Show me your smile (A youtuber love story)
by DestinyxDarkness
Summary: A world which is mostly ruled by the people of the world called "Alpha" seems to be looming overhead, causing chaos and unhappiness to loom over the universe. However, not all people are content with letting such a thing happen. A small group of people, led by a hot headed Alpha(Who wished to be anything else other than a Alpha) try to bring about a new wave of equality and fairnes
1. (1) Characters

Name: Allison Forrey (Nickname: Ally)

Age: 18

Birthday: 6th of January

Looks: Long blonde hair with blue eyes, fair white skin and relatively skinny

Crush: Many people (She gets crushes easily)

Sexuality: Bisexual

Former relationships: None

Friends: She makes friends really easy

Enemies: Someone who threatens her friends or anyone who pisses her off

Family: Kaleb (Working for a gun company(Brother)

Class: Alpha

Element: Best at using shock element

Weapon: Elemental pistol (In this part of the story)

Fave colour: Magenta

Fave food: Sweets

Hobbies: Hanging with friends, training, listening to music and dancing

Smell: Scented candles (What she smells like to other people)

* * *

Name: Mark (Nickname: Markiplier)

Age: 27

Birthday: 28th of June

Looks: Short black hair with a red Mohawk (Referred to as his "floof"), brown eyes, average height, muscular body

Crush: Allison

Sexuality: Straight (Might go bi for really handsome men)

Former relationships: ? and ? (Revealed later)

Friends: Jack, Tyler, Dan, Phil, PJ, Chris, Connor, Troye and Allison

Enemies: Former relationships and violent people

Family: Two mothers, one brother (His father got remarried)

Class: Omega

Element: Works well with Slag

Weapon: None (In this part)

Fave colour: Dark blue

Fave food: Pudding

Hobbies: Hanging with friends, doing chores, solving puzzles and singing

Smell: Pine and Whiskey (What he smells like to other people)

* * *

Name: Sean McLoughlin (Nickname: Jack)

Age: 26

Birthday: 7th of February

Looks: Short brown hair with a green Mohawk, blue eyes, average height, skinny

Crush: Allison? (Isn't sure)

Sexuality: Straight (Jokes about liking men)

Former relationships: ?

Friends: Mark, Tyler, Dan, Phil, PJ, Chris, Connor, Troye and Allison

Enemies: People who try to take advantage of weaker people

Family: Four siblings(Two sisters and two brothers)

Class: Beta

Element: Likes using Corrosive weapons

Weapon: Elemental pistol shared with Allison (In this part)

Fave colour: Dark green

Fave food: Ice cream, cake and sweet things

Hobbies: Eating, dancing and making puns

Smell: Cookies and Lettuce (What he smells like to other people)

* * *

Name: Tyler Oakley (Nickname: Tyler)

Age: 27

Birthday: 22nd of March

Looks: Styled hair(Changes hair colour often), blue eyes, short height and is pretty skinny

Crush: ? and ? (Revealed later)

Sexuality: Gay

Former relationships: None

Friends: Mark, Jack, Dan, Phil, PJ, Chris, Connor, Troye and Allison

Enemies: Doesn't really like to make enemies

Family: Mother (Known as Queen Jackie)

Class: Beta

Element: Doesn't like hurting people

Weapon: Doesn't like guns or knives

Fave colour: Purple

Fave food: Candies

Hobbies: Joking around, practicing speeches and cooking

Smell: Cotton candy and lollipops (What he smells like to other people)

* * *

Name: Daniel Howell (Nickname: Dan)

Age: 25

Birthday: 11th of June

Looks: Short brown hair styled to his left, brown eyes, very tall and a skinny frame

Crush: Athena, Ally? (He's not sure what to think about her)

Sexuality: Straight

Former relationships: None

Friends: Mark, Jack, Tyler, Phil, PJ, Chris, Connor, Troye and Allison

Enemies: Inconsiderate people and Geese (Also moths)

Family: Unknown

Class: Omega

Element: Works best with flame

Weapon: None (In this part)

Fave colour: Black

Fave food: Maltesers

Hobbies: Joking around, wrestling (He loses every time) and being perverted

Smell: Chocolate and Beetroot (What he smells like to other people)

* * *

Name: Phil Lester (Nickname: Phil)

Age: 29

Birthday: 30th of January

Looks: Short black hair styled to his right, Blue eyes, very tall and a skinny frame

Crush: Allison

Sexuality: Straight

Former relationships: ?

Friends: Mark, Jack, Tyler, Dan, PJ, Chris, Connor, Troye and Allison

Enemies: Anyone who is rude or violent

Family: Mother and father

Class: Omega

Element: Works best with flame

Weapon: None (In this part)

Fave colour: Blue

Fave food: Salty popcorn

Hobbies: Joking around, making puns (He loses every time) and being told off by Dan by making a bad comment/pun

Smell: Apple juice and caramel (What he smells like to other people)

* * *

Name: PJ Liguori (Nickname: PJ)

Age: 25

Birthday: 11th of December

Looks: Curly black hair, green eyes, very tall and a medium build

Crush: Allison

Sexuality: Straight

Former relationships: None

Friends: Mark, Jack, Tyler, Dan, Phil, Chris, Connor, Troye and Allison

Enemies: Anyone who is rude or violent

Family: Mother and father

Class: Beta

Element: Works best with explosive

Weapon: None (In this part)

Fave colour: Red

Fave food: Cheesecake

Hobbies: Gymnastics, drinking tea and painting with Chris

Smell: Honey and Cinnamon (What he smells like to other people)

* * *

Name: Christopher Kendall (Nickname: Chris)

Age: 28

Birthday: 2nd of October

Looks: Slightly wavy black hair, brown eyes, very tall and a skinny build

Crush: Allison

Sexuality: Straight

Former relationships: None

Friends: Mark, Jack, Tyler, Dan, Phil, PJ, Connor, Troye and Allison

Enemies: Anyone who is rude or violent

Family: Mother and father

Class: Beta

Element: Works best with explosive

Weapon: None (In this part)

Fave colour: Orange

Fave food: Cheesecake

Hobbies: Making dirty jokes, Pulling pranks and painting with PJ

Smell: Lavender and Rice (What he smells like to other people)

* * *

Name: Connor Franta (Nickname: Connor)

Age: 23

Birthday: 12th of September

Looks: Slightly wavy brown hair, green eyes, very tall and a medium build

Crush: ? and ? (Revealed later)

Sexuality: Gay

Former relationships: None

Friends: Mark, Jack, Tyler, Dan, Phil, PJ, Chris, Troye and Allison

Enemies: Anyone who is rude or violent

Family: Mother and father

Class: Beta

Element: Works best with slag

Weapon: None (In this part)

Fave colour: White

Fave food: Fruit

Hobbies: Running, dancing and singing

Smell: Lemons and cumin (What he smells like to other people)

* * *

Name: Troye Mellet (Nickname: Troye)

Age: 21

Birthday: 5th of June

Looks: Dark brown hair, green eyes, short height and a small build

Crush: None

Sexuality: Gay

Former relationships: ?

Friends: Mark, Jack, Tyler, Dan, Phil, PJ, Chris, Connor and Allison

Enemies: Anyone who takes advantage of the weak

Family: Mother and father (Plus three siblings)

Class: Omega

Element: Works best with shock

Weapon: None (In this part)

Fave colour: Green

Fave food: Pasta

Hobbies: Singing, making people smile and spending time with friends

Smell: Mints and Aloe Vera (What he smells like to other people)

Hello everyone! I am aware that I might be getting some things wrong with the Alpha/Beta/Omega universe, but I am not too concerned with that. I have changed a couple of things to suit the story better as well. If something is glaringly wrong, you can mention it (Feel free to :D) but keep in mind that I might have not known/changed it to benefit the story. You also are free to tell me if you noticed something glaringly obvious from the youtubers listed above. I also know that the people above might not necessarily know each other, but that's fine. If you haven't heard of these youtubers, feel free to search them up and learn a bit more about them. Thanks for checking out my story :)


	2. (2) Rain soaked wood

Allison's P.O.V.:

 **Begin phase one**

Alpha. Beta. Omega.  
Three different kinds of class you could be born into, each being different in their own right.  
Red signified that you were Alpha. Strong and tough. Being almost untouchable. However, usually at the cost of intelligence.  
Green signified that you were Beta. You had a specific talent that you excelled at, regardless of body build or state of mind.  
Blue signified that you were Omega. Often quite weak, but with the intelligence of a master strategist or genius.  
Unfortunately, we as a species didn't work together as a harmonious existence. Those idiots.  
Alpha's had decided that they deserved to be treated as the best, trampling the other two underneath as Alpha caused chaos and unhappiness everywhere.  
And due to the fact that they are a heck of a lot stronger, most people couldn't afford to stand against them.  
Most Omega's were taken as slaves, while Beta's got forced into doing what was classified as "menial" tasks.  
As such, Alpha's are almost never trusted.  
Beta's are the ones blamed for everything going wrong in society.  
Omega's are treated as pets as well as servants.  
Things go even worse when a week of heat comes along.  
In the month, each class has one week of heat, when we get hot and bothered, having the urge to bond with someone.  
It begins with Alpha's, then Beta's and then Omega's. Then we have a week at the end of the month that is blissfully empty of heat.  
Alpha's go absolutely crazy, pretty much jumping everything.  
Beta's shut themselves in their houses for the most part. Everything really goes to shit then.  
Omega's get really, really horny, seeking out anyone to help them relieve themselves. They unfortunately get abused in that state.  
Every class hates their heats, even the Alpha's. It causes them to lose their mind. To not be themselves.  
Some people take suppressants, some get drunk, some hide away until it is done.  
Either way, everybody hates their heat. Including me.

I rounded the corner of the dark alleyway, only to see someone getting beat up at the end of the street.  
I quickly did an about turn and started heading in the opposite direction.  
 **Away from the fighting. Must get away from chaos. Away. Away. Away...**  
I found myself panting, the fever aggravating the accompanying headache.  
Of course my bloody heat had to come now. Just when I needed to run away from him.  
I came to the desolate town of hollow point, it being one of the few towns where people were almost impossible to track.  
However, it was also filled with bandits, con-artists, psychopaths and pretty much anything bad.  
I had managed to learn how to hide my Alpha scent, but I was having increased difficulty doing so with my heat in full swing.  
Not to mention my suppressants had run out.  
I wouldn't put it past some idiot Alpha to try and take advantage of a female, regardless of her class.  
I was luckily only at the first stage of my heat, the fever ridden part.  
Better than the horny part.  
I looked down the next alleyway, seeing a bar at the end of the street called the "Purple skag"  
Yeah, no thanks. Bars are bad places for anyone in their heat.  
Your scent, regardless of your class, becomes more intense in your heat, drawing all kinds of nasty folk towards yourself.  
Alpha's don't emit their scent as much as Omega's do, but it's definitely worse than Beta's, who you can only smell when they are in their heat.  
Except for me.  
I was ever so lucky (Can you hear the sarcasm?) to gain a very sensitive nose, meaning I was drinking in all the scents from anyone around me.  
Alpha's. Beta's. Omega's.  
Didn't matter who, I always had to be aware around people, otherwise I would go wild with their scent.  
My heat made it twice as bad.  
The only thing that got rid of my smell was the suppressants. I couldn't smell anything when I took them.  
They also, however, feel like someone is banging on your head with a hammer while you have a pounding hangover/headache.  
Still better than being jumped/jumping someone in my opinion.  
The smells around me, my fever, my headache and my paranoia was making a horrid cocktail inside me, making me annoyed and very horny.  
The only thing distracting me was the sound of my boots creaking into the wooden floor beneath me and the squishing noise of my boots due to the fact they were wet.  
When I raised my head once more, I saw another alleyway.  
I sighed, but decided to peek down it.  
No luck, dead end.  
This endless cycle continued for another 20 minutes until I saw a sign that gave me some hope.  
It was a sign belonging to a motel, the motel being called "Little hole in the wall". It was a quaint little motel, the entire thing made out of a gentle brown wood, polished nicely to a shine.  
I chuckled, but frowned when I saw the blaring words on the front door.  
"NO ALPHA ALLOWED" the sign read.  
It felt like a punch to the gut. Why am I being punished because other Alpha are mostly mindless idiots?!  
I delivered a kick to a nearby wooden post in annoyance.  
I apparently kicked it too hard because it went flying over a couple of houses and landed with a loud splash in the lake in the middle of Hollow point.  
I let out a grumble, which came out as more of a growl.  
I heard a clicking noise behind me, and I turned to face the noise.  
The door to the motel had been unlocked and open, no doubt to check what all the noise was.  
A man with a gentle expression on his face looked at my soaked form.  
The first thing that sprung out was the fact part of his hair was dyed a bright red colour. The rest of his hair was a deep shade of black, short and sculpted around his face. Speaking of his face, it seemed quite well sculpted. His glasses shined gently in the dim lighting, causing me to get lost in his features for a brief moment.  
"Are you alright?"  
He spoke with a gentle, deep, harmonious voice that seemed to sooth a part of my anger.  
His eyes looked curiously at me, many emotions seemingly swimming around in them.  
From what I could see of him, he looked pretty well built. He looked like a stereotypical Alpha, except he was perfectly calm and didn't seem to have his heat at all.  
I winced involuntarily as I felt another wave of pain come on.  
"I need a place to stay the night" I mumbled through the pain. I sure as hell wasn't going to tell him my class or that I was in heat.  
He scanned me quickly, evaluating whether I would be a danger.  
Nobody does, cause I am a slight build and a female.  
He opened the door fully.  
"Quick, before an Alpha shows up"  
I nearly laughed at the irony in that statement.  
Well, don't look a gift horse in the mouth Ally.  
"Thanks so much"


	3. (3) Wolf in sheep's clothing

Allison's P.O.V.:

I heard the click of the door behind me.  
It felt good to be out of the rain. Well, rain is maybe the wrong word. Fog? Whatever.  
I took in a deep breath, which was supposed to lead into a sigh. Big mistake.  
My nostrils got assaulted by nearly twenty different scents at once.  
I ended up gagging on the scents, covering my nose and mouth before looking for the source.  
In my hurry to get into the building, I hadn't noticed the amount of people that were residing in the foyer of the motel.  
About eight guys all looked at my drenched form. About four really tall ones were on the stairs leading upstairs, while the other four stood at the foot of the stairs.  
Two of the men held up gasoline lamps, trying to illuminate the dark area.  
All of them had their eyes trained on me. I felt like a deer in headlights with their scrutinizing gazes.  
"Mark? Who's this?" said one with a strange accent which I couldn't place. Scottish or something. He had green hair, which took me a bit by surprise. It seemed so fluorescent in the darkness, and I assumed automatically that it must be fake.  
The man who had let me inside moved to stand along side the one who spoke to him. His name appeared to be Mark.  
The lamp light helped me see his face better, seeing his facial hair and glasses reflect the light from the lamp.  
I had to admit, he looked very attractive.  
"She said she needed to stay for the night" Mark answered, a gentle and deep voice coming from him. "She looked cold and wet, and we have a spare room, so I thought "Why not?""  
The one who spoke to him nodded his head, not in approval (If his face was anything to go by) but in acknowledgment of what Mark had said.  
Mark's calm voice suited him.  
What confused me the most was the fact that in the assault on my nose, I hadn't smelled anything remotely Alpha.  
Was Mark taking suppressants? I know they hide a persons scent very well, but he didn't seem to be suffering from any of the side effects. No sign of pain or headaches at all.  
He certainly held the leader role for the men in the motel.

Nobody invited me to stay the night. They simply continued to stare, as though that would answer their questions about me.  
I scanned each of their faces in turn. My heat was making it difficult to distinguish little things about each of them that would help me remember the difference between them.  
"Why are you covering your nose?" Said one of them, this time having a British accent. I could only distinguish that he was squinting at me with a annoyed look while he was standing on the stairs.  
"I have a cold"  
Smooth Ally. Real smooth. They're totally gonna believe that. Not.  
Another one beside him gasped.  
A couple of them turned to look at the one who had gasped.  
"What's wrong PJ?" said one beside him, also having a British accent.  
The one called PJ had clenched his hand around the guard rail on the stairs, looking at me with fear filled eyes.  
"She smells like Alpha!" PJ gasped out.  
Most of the men looked toward me, back to PJ, back to me and back to him again.  
"Don't be silly" said a short boy with a Australian accent. "Alpha's can't be girls"  
"Yes they can" said another boy beside the Australian one. He had a weird tint of blue that seemed to be his hair. Also British. "Are you sure PJ?"  
"Smell her! You can smell her from a mile away!" said PJ, a newfound urgency in his voice.  
Not all of them made audible noises while sniffing the air, but they all made motions to smell me.  
Once they did, all of them got horrified looks on their faces.  
"Holy shit! She really is a Alpha" said one of the boys holding the lamps. He seemed to have very soft eyes, which were now flaring up with fear.  
"And she's in heat" said the other holding his lamp. He glared at me, taking a cautious step away from me.  
The one with a Scottish accent suddenly grabbed something from out the back of his pants, holding it up to point it at me.  
It was a gun. A quite weak looking one from what I could see.  
Nonetheless, without a shield I really didn't wanna get shot by this guy.  
"Look, I don't care if ya need a place for the night" he said as he looked through the sights on the gun. "I'll be fucking damned if ya hurt anyone 'ere"  
I remained calm while I looked at him. My experience with gunmen told me that it was better to remain calm with this sort of situation.  
The rest of the boys seemed to take a cautious step back, away from me and their gun wielding friend.  
If anything, my calmness seemed to scare the Scottish boy even further, like he expected me to freak out rather than remain calm.  
"I-I'm not gonna l-let ya hurt anyb-body 'ere!" he said while his hands shook and he stammered.  
His hands caused his gun to shake as well. I looked at how he was holding his gun and the way it was put together.  
"If you're gonna point a gun at someone" I said while staring at his gun. "At least make sure the safety is off"  
His breath hitched in his throat, his face going a shade paler than it was originally.  
He peered down his hands, looking to see if I was correct. I was.  
He hurriedly flicked it off, then re aimed the gun at me.  
He was shocked to find I hand't moved a muscle.  
"Why didn't y-you launch yourself at me?" he breathed, disbelief evident in his voice.  
"I wasn't trying to hurt you" I said, re-positioning my hand in front of my nose to try and block their scents. "I was trying to prove a point"  
"What point?"  
"That you don't want to threaten someone with something unless you know what you are doing" I said. "It can sometimes get you into more trouble than you already are"  
Luckily, he didn't take that as a insult. Then again, he wasn't likely going to. He looked more scared shitless than anything else.  
While me and the guy had our little incident, we hadn't noticed Mark slowly edging his way over to his friend.  
He gently placed one hand on his friends hand, the other on the gun.  
They looked at each other, Mark slowly shaking his head at him.  
"Come on Jack" Mark said slowly. "It's not worth it man"  
"Jack" took a deep breath in, seemingly believing his friend. He released the gun into Mark's hands, who opted to turn the safety back on and placed it into the back part of his own pants.  
Mark looked sternly at me.  
"If I let you stay the night, will you leave tomorrow morning?"  
"Yes"  
A chorus of complaints sounded from the others, them only quieting down when Mark covered his lips with a single finger in a shush motion.  
When I wondered why, a dozen of feet walked by the front door of the motel. Everyone, including me seemed to hold their breath as they passed without noticing anything.  
Jack was the first to whisper-shout the moment he could.  
"But she's in 'er bloody 'eat!"  
"You can lock me in the room or something if you want to" I answered. "I just really need to not be outside with those maniacs"  
They all seemed to agree with that. Nobody wanted to be outside in the dark.  
Mark took a step towards me. One would almost think he was confident, if it wasn't for the fact that his legs shook while he took it.  
"Look, this is a place that we made, where we could sleep peacefully without having to sleep with one eye open" Mark said, his deep voice making it seem like he was saying a speech. "If you ruin that, I'll never forgive you"  
I nearly laughed at that final comment.  
Both at the fact that I could do so much worse than ruin it and that the worst he could threaten with was that he would never forgive me.  
"I can think of so many things you could have said instead of never forgiving me"  
"Like what?" he said as he looked at me confused.  
"For starters, you could have threatened to kill me"  
Mark looked horrified that I would even mention that.  
"I couldn't do that"  
I looked at him, trying to figure out if he was telling the truth. Was he really an Alpha? He certainly didn't act at all like one.  
"Mark, she could jump us!" whispered PJ.  
"If she wanted to do that, she would have done so already" Mark said looking at me. "Am I right?"  
He's so trusting. I'd almost say he was naive. So different to...him.  
My eyes softened when I looked at him.  
He was like an angel. Unfortunately, in this world, angels get abused.  
I lowered my hand, being careful not to take a deep breath again.  
"Thank you so much" I said honestly. "You have no idea how much this means to me"  
He smiled gently at me, his eyes half closing. My chest seemed to get fluttery, my words frozen on the tip of the tongue.  
Weird, I hadn't felt like this in a long, long time. Not since...  
I mentally shook the thought away of the other person.  
"Could you show me to the available room?"  
He nodded his head, sweeping his hand towards the stairs, a motion to head upstairs.  
Like a flock of scared animals, the rest of the boys scrambled away from the stairs. They all watched me with wary eyes.  
I honestly can't say I blame them. Having a Alpha show up who is in heat is not nice.  
Like a surprise. Except this surprise was like finding out your birthday cake was actually an explosive.  
Okay, maybe not that bad.  
As I reached the top of the stairs, Mark pointed to a door right in front of the stairwell.  
"This one"  
I nodded, moving towards it and trying to door handle. It opened easily, no squeaking or groaning wood.  
Mark took good care of this place.  
I turned around to face Mark.  
"Are you gonna lock the door once I am inside?"  
"Yeah, sorry, the guys wouldn't be able to sleep otherwise" said Mark, while looking guilty. "I hope that's okay"  
Goddamn. Can he get any more trusting? Asking the Alpha in heat if it is alright to lock their door?  
I made the mistake of sighing in front of him, meaning I got a whiff of his scent. Some kind of tree.  
I hurriedly opened the door, ducking inside before I did something I regretted.  
As I leaned against the door trying to compose myself, I heard the familiar clicking off something locking.  
He had locked the door. Of course.  
"I'll get you some water, food and painkillers" came Mark's muffled voice through the door. "You looked like you could use some"  
I laughed nervously, not used to this treatment.  
"If you're not careful, I'll wanna marry you at this rate"  
I had made the comment in jest, more to calm myself than anything else.  
I heard him laughing on the other side of the door.  
"Here"  
He slipped something under the door, it gently connecting with my soaked boot. I picked it up to get a better look at it.  
That idiot. He handed me the key to the bloody door.  
"What are you doing?!" I asked incredulously.  
"I feel like I can trust you, plus I have two sets of keys for each door" Mark said. "Besides, how else are you gonna get the food and stuff that I am going to bring you?"  
I sighed heavily.  
"Someone is gonna take advantage of you someday" I muttered, more to myself than to him.  
"The fact that you say that makes you a lot more trust worthy"  
 **No. NO. NO! No no no no...**  
I am not trust worthy at all. Not at all. Not after what I had done.  
I tried to stuff the key back under the door, only to have him push it back.  
"I mean it, take it"  
I gave up, sliding to the floor. I clutched the key in my hand.  
He trusted me. Why? WHY?  
It doesn't make any sense.  
I looked around the room, seeing the small bath, a dressing shield and a double sized bed.  
I nearly cried with how happy I was. Or maybe cause I was tired.  
I don't even know anymore.  
I stood up, placing the key on the bedside table beside the bed.  
I chucked my robe, my shirt and pants over the rim of the bathtub so that any dripping would end up into the bath.  
I chucked my socks onto the same rim.  
I looked into the bedside table, finding mens clothing.  
I sighed in annoyance. I grabbed the boxers in the drawer.  
"That's gonna be uncomfortable as fuck"  
I decided to wear it over my wet underwear, simply so that I wouldn't get the bed wet.  
I heard clinking outside the door, hearing a sturdy but gentle knock afterwards.  
"Room service" Mark said, laughing shortly afterwards at his own joke.  
"Thanks babe" I joked back.  
We both laughed for a short while, before I heard what sounded like he was standing up.  
"Well, hope you sleep well"  
"Thanks"  
He seemed to accept that, and I heard him move down the hallway.  
It sounded like he was right next door to me.  
Once I was certain that nobody was in the hallway, I unlocked the door and grabbed the tray.  
Once I locked the door again, placing the key on the nightstand once more.  
He had given me a full glass of water, a full pack of painkillers, a whole apple, some crackers and what looked like jerky.  
I ate the jerky first, then alternating between the apple and crackers.  
It was something really plain, but it tasted like heaven to me at that moment.  
I swallowed the entire glass of water, knowing the painkillers wouldn't do anything.  
I placed the tray on the floor, crawling underneath the fur covers.  
It felt like I had been enveloped in warmth and comfort.  
I meekly looked at the window, deciding that I didn't care enough about the blinds to do anything.  
I settled into sleep, hoping that tomorrow I wouldn't have swung into the horny part of my heat.


	4. (4) One of a kind

Allison's P.O.V.:

I startled myself awake. I took one look to the window, seeing it was still as dark as before.  
Then again, if you are in a cave, what the hell is supposed to be daytime?  
I never understood bloody Pandora time zones. Was it night or not?!  
I hurriedly scanned the room, looking for a clock. None in sight.  
I sat up in bed, regretting it immediately. My heat had jumped into the horny stage.  
Why now, of all the times?!  
I grumbled to myself, forcing myself out of the comfy bed. I had to get out of the motel, fast.  
It's dangerous for me to be in a building full of Beta and Omega who want nothing to do with me.  
I started to grab my stuff from the bathtub, only to realise that it was all completely soaked still.  
I swallowed nervously to myself, noticing that my mouth felt like someone had scratched my tongue with a chili covered sandpaper.  
I started to weigh up my options for what to do.  
I obviously had to leave long before the rest were awake, otherwise I would probably unconsciously jump them. But I really didn't wanna go out in underwear, or soaking wet clothing while I was in heat.  
I could see if one of them still had suppressants.  
But I didn't trust myself to walk to their door, knock, and them opening the door to me.  
Yeah, that would end badly.  
What about their medicine cabinet? It would be in their bathroom possibly.  
The only problem is that I have no clue where their bathroom was.  
Acting sooner rather than later would probably be best. I took the key to the door, unlocking the door.  
I stuck my head half out the door, seeing if I could hear anyone or see anyone.  
The only thing I got was another assault of scents. How the hell?!  
They were all in their rooms, yet I could smell all of them like they were right next to me.  
I hurriedly covered my nose, trying to compose myself. To anyone who would have seen me, I would have looked like I was trying to choke myself.  
I moved away from their rooms, as well as mine, descending the same stairs I had ascended hours before.  
None of the stairs creaked or groaned, the only noises coming from my flustered breathing and the soft padding of my feet on the floor.  
Once I had gotten to the ground floor, I gently uncovered my nose. Despite being quite a distance away, I could still smell them.  
This time, they smelled like they were a door away from me. My stupid sensitive nose.  
I moved towards what looked like a kitchen, being careful to not bump into anything.  
I noticed some glasses left near a sink with a tap.  
I didn't know and didn't care if they had been used, I took one and filled it up full, chugging it.  
My mouth still felt awful, so I filled up one more glass.  
I accidentally spilled some water over the side of the glass, onto the counter. Butter fingers.  
I ignored it for the most part, knocking back the second glass of water.

 **I heard something...**

I froze in place, straining my ears to listen for any further noises.  
I slowly lower the glass I held back onto the counter, moving slightly to see if I could see any door opening from upstairs.  
The water on the counter top made the glass not stay upright, making it first fall onto its side, then rolling off the counter top.  
It crashed against the floor, sending little bits of glass everywhere.  
"Shit!" I whispered to myself.  
I once again froze in place, listening for any sign that the rest of the boys had woken up.  
It seemed like hours that I stood there, though in actuality it was probably just a couple of minutes.  
Once I had evaluated that no one had woken up, I started to pick up the broken bits of glass off the floor.  
I would feel awful if one of them cut their foot open on them.  
Only when I had picked up the pieces I could, did I realise that I had no darn idea where I was planning to put them.  
I placed them on the nearby counter, deciding that was a better place than the floor.  
Just as I was about to move out of the kitchen and start looking for where their bathroom was, did I hear a large number of footsteps coming down the stairs.  
"What the heck was that noise?" said one of the tall boys as he came closer to the kitchen.  
My dumb brain decided that hiding was the best option, me ducking down in the corner.  
That ended up probably being the worst mistake of my life.  
Well, second worst mistake.  
Mark was the first to enter the dining area which was attached to the kitchen area.  
I could smell him so well from where I crouched. He smelt like pine. And some kind of alcohol.  
He smelled so good. SO good. SO GOOD...

* * *

Before I had even realised what had happened, I lunged at him, catching Mark by the shoulders.  
The both of us smacked into the ground with a heavy thud, me being on top of him. I heard something drop from his hand onto the ground.  
A chorus of gasps and screams sounded from the rest. I'm even quite certain someone shot at me.  
Most of the noise around me mixed into a garbled mess, with my full attention on the man below me.  
Only when I was in close proximity to him did I find out why he didn't smell like Alpha.  
He smelled like an Omega.  
Despite his strong build, he undeniably wasn't an Alpha. He also seemed to lack the confidence of a Alpha.  
As I hovered above him, he didn't look angry or shocked. If anything, he looked scared out of his mind. He looked like he was about to cry from how scared he was.  
The more I looked at him, the more horrified I was with myself.  
"No... please..."  
As he uttered those words, a single tear slid down the side of his face from his right eye.  
It felt like a slap to the face, which was enough for me to snap out of my hormone filled daze.  
While being momentarily in control, I took the opportunity to jump off Mark and run past the rest of the boys, up the stairs. I think I heard one of them squeal as I did so.  
I barged into the room I had been given, locking the door as quickly as I possibly could.  
I betrayed him. I betrayed the man who showed me nothing but kindness the moment I walked in the door.  
I wanted to punch myself. No, I probably wanted to do more.  
I heard a whole bunch of screaming from downstairs. Are they still screaming from what I did?  
As I looked out the window, I saw them all leaving the building.  
I shook my head, scrambling to grab my wet clothes. I was going to leave, no matter what.  
I wrapped my wet cloak around my face, hoping it would hide any traces of scents.  
As I unlocked the door and started to descend the stairs, did I smell a ever so familiar scent.  
Smoke. Flame. The smell of something burning.  
I looked inside the dining area, seeing a broken gasoline lamp. Flames erupting all around it, spreading on the polished wooden floors.  
I threw my cloak that was wrapped around my face onto the area, stomping on it as though I was punishing myself for my own stupidity.  
Once I had calmed down, all that remained of my cloak was bits and pieces of rags. Luckily the fire had gone out in the process.  
It seemed like silence would rain supreme.

A sound of shuffling alerted me to a presence behind me.  
When I turned around, I noticed a boy with a strange light blue hair colour. I think he was the one who squealed when I ran past him.  
He seemed scared out of his mind, yet he was taking ever so small steps towards me, holding out his hand to me.  
It didn't occur to me why he was doing so, until I glanced at what he was holding in his hand.  
A small familiar black pill. A suppressant.  
He was offering a suppressant to me despite what I almost did to his friend.  
I took the suppressant from his hand, him making a small "Eep!" noise when I took it.  
I swallowed it whole, despite my throat being irritated.  
"Wow! You're not at all afraid of the side effects of those, huh?"  
"Better than losing control and hurting people"  
He nodded his head, agreeing with me.  
"I don't know what it's like to have that urge during my heat" he said, a smile forming on his face. "But I think you are handling it pretty okay!"  
I snorted, both to get the smell of smoke out my nose and half-laughing at that comment.  
"Dude, you look absolutely scared shitless"  
"Do I? Haha, well you know the saying" he said as he played with the cuff of his shirt. "The truly brave one is the one who is scared but jumps anyway"  
True that. Unless you are jumping into a ravine. Then you are stupid for jumping.  
"I'm so sorry for what I nearly did to Mark..."  
"Hey, I've seen Alphas in heat before" he said. "And you are the first one to actually try to stay away from people and stop themselves from hurting people"  
I could feel the suppressant start to kick in, a strong wave of pain nearly knocking me off my feet. My sense of smell also disappeared.  
I stumbled backwards, hitting my head against the wall before sliding down onto my rear.  
He looked at me, a mixture of emotions floating around in his eyes. The strongest one was concern.  
"Are you okay, hon?"  
I wasn't about to cry, but I felt like doing so.  
"Why are you all so nice to me?! All I've done is hurt you guys!" I uttered, my voice cracking as I spoke.  
He knelt beside me, hugging me.  
"Because everyone deserves to be treated nicely"  
He started to rock me back and forth, like a child almost. In most situations I would have been offended, but it felt like someone really cared about me.  
Didn't someone else do that as well?  
It didn't matter much to me.  
As my consciousness started to fade, I heard people talking.  
"Tyler! Oh my god, are you okay?!"  
"Why is she only wearing that?!"  
The rest ended up into blurred garbage like before, the suppressant causing me to be sleepier than anything else.  
"'m shorry"


	5. (5) Within these four walls

Allison's P.O.V:

I woke up once more in the same familiar room. I'm gonna start getting a feeling of Deja vu after a while.  
I looked over to my bedside table, seeing suppressants, a glass of water and a note underneath the items.  
I sat up in bed, grabbing the note.

"Good morning sleeping beauty! \\(*-*)/"  
"Hope you slept well! You looked like you needed it!"  
"There are suppressants for you to take if you think you need them"  
"I'd personally just keep them on your person if possible"  
"Feel free to come downstairs to eat or just chat!"  
"It would be great to introduce you to all the others!"  
"Your new best friend, Tyler"  
"P.S. Don't worry, Mark forgives you for what happened last night"

I laughed to myself, both for the fact that most of the note was silly drawings and for the fact that they still trusted me enough to let me stay.  
I gladly swallowed one, seeing as its best to take two a day.  
I looked over to three piles laid out neatly nearby.  
One was for a short well built person. Another was medium height and well built. The last one was for a tall person who was skinny.  
I had to take the one for skinny people, none of the others fitted me.  
It seemed to have a galaxy theme. It looked nice, besides the fact it looked like it belonged to someone much taller than me.  
Heading downstairs, I noticed the chatter of the men all crowded in the dining room.  
Well, no time like the present.

Jack's P.O.V.:

Everyone was crammed around the dining room table, minus Tyler and Connor, who were making food in the kitchen.  
Chris, PJ and Dan stood around the table, while me, Mark, Troye and Phil sat down in the chairs.  
I was looking at my gun, annoyed with the amount of ammo I wasted as well as the things I did wrong with it.  
I hadn't managed to shoot the girl when she first walked into our building. Then, when I tried to shoot her when she was on top of Mark, I missed her and had hit the gasoline lamp that Mark dropped. Very nearly burnt the building down.  
Now the bloody thing was jammed. I didn't dare take it apart, cause I had no fucking clue how to put it back together.  
I sighed, which everyone noticed.  
"What's up pal?" Mark said as he placed a hand on my shoulder.  
"Everything" I said as I ran my hand through my green hair. "From that girl to this stupid gun"  
Chris reached over Phil, picking up the gun.  
"Do you know what's wrong with it?"  
"No" I grumbled, playing with my hair. "If I did, I would be busy fixin' it"  
Chris gave the gun a smack with the palm of his hand. Dan looked at him as if he was stupid.  
"Dude, what if that went off when you did that?!"  
"Safety's on"  
Phil got a grin on his face, which could mean two things. He either has a pun or is remembering something funny.  
"Chris" said Phil, the grin never leaving his face. "I know it's called a hand gun, but that's not how it works"  
It's a pun.  
"Or are you supporting your right to bare arms?"  
Chris was wearing short sleeves.  
"Phil, now's really not the time" groaned PJ.  
Phil stopped wearing his grin, looking apologetic.  
"Sorry"  
Chris returned the gun to the table, leaning on Phil's shoulder.  
"So, what are we doing with the Alpha situation?" asked Troye.  
"Good question"  
We all looked over to the bottom of the stairs, seeing the girl there.  
"I was wondering about that myself"  
We all looked at Mark, seeing his face turn serious.  
"Take a seat, we want to discuss that with you" Mark said while motioning towards the open chair at the end of the table.  
She nodded her head sharply, moving to sit in the aforementioned seat.  
Once she sat down, her eyes traveled to the gun in the middle of the table.  
"It's dangerous to leave a loaded gun in the middle of the table" she said, making no move to grab it.  
"It doesn't work" said PJ before anyone else.  
Her eyes traveled to him.  
"It's also unwise to tell someone you are unarmed" she said, no threat at all in her voice. "On Pandora anyway"  
She didn't look like she was in pain, despite the fact Tyler swore she had taken a suppressant. Those things hurt like a mother fucker.  
"Hey sweetie!" called Tyler from the kitchen. "Did you take a suppressant this morning?"  
"Yeah, thanks"  
"How are you not in pain?" asked Dan, glowering at her.  
"I get used to the pain after a bit"  
Her attention was definitely more on the gun.  
"Why doesn't it work?"  
"We dunno" I answered.  
"Can I take a look?"  
I looked over to Mark, him returning the same look of "Should we?".  
"Sure" said Phil. "Just don't shoot us with it"  
Duh. I think that part's obvious.  
She picked up the gun, starting to take it apart.  
"The trigger return spring is bent" she said, fiddling with something. "You can bend it back, but it's only a temporary solution"  
I looked shocked at her. Just how often had she used guns?  
"It probably happened from the wrong type of ammo or the gun is old" she said putting it back together. "Either way, it's not gonna be usable past two or three shots"  
Once she had fixed it, she held it out to me, the barrel of the gun pointing towards herself.  
"You'll also want to get a semi-automatic so that you don't have to fiddle with the loose barrel on this one" she started to mumble, seemingly more to herself than to me. "But don't get one with a huge recoil, it'll bruise your hands and smack you in the face as well as making you look stupid"  
I took the gun back, noticing the shocked looks from everyone else.  
"Where did ya learn all this?!" I asked, placing the gun on my lap.  
"My brother works for a gun company" she said, a grin started to appear on her face. "He never shuts up about his guns"  
Tyler came bustling out the kitchen, placing a plate in front of each individual person. Omelets.  
"So, I don't think we even have your name" said Tyler taking a seat. "I'm Tyler Oakley, if you didn't know"  
She smiled, looking relieved.  
"I'm Allison Forrey" said Allison. "But most people call me Ally"  
The rest of us looked at each other, wondering if we could trust her.  
"I'm Mark Fischbach" said Mark smiling at her. "Nice to finally attach a name to the face"  
I sighed, before taking my turn.  
"Name's Sean Mcloughlin" I said, not really liking to use my real name. "I'd prefer it if you called me Jack"  
Her eyes twitched for a moment when she heard me say my nickname. Weird.  
"Hey, I'm Phil Lester"  
"Yo, I'm Connor Franta"  
"Sup, name's Christopher Kendall" said Chris. "Call me Chris"  
"Hey there, I'm PJ Ligouri"  
"Hello, my name is Troye Sivan"  
"I'm Dan"  
Everyone looked at Dan, wondering why he didn't use his full name.  
"This is Daniel Howell" said Phil, answering for Dan.  
"I swear to god Phil" said Dan shaking his head.  
We all laughed a bit, forgetting the tension for a moment.  
"So, what are you actually doing in Hollow point?" said Connor. "This isn't exactly the friendliest place for people to live"  
She looked at her plate of food, probably weighing up whether or not to make up a lie. She took a deep breath in.  
"I'm running away from my former boss"  
"Who's that?"  
"You won't know him"  
Dan glared at her. Is it because she was wearing the clothes that Mark had taken from his room?  
"Humor us"  
She looked at him, not in annoyance but definitely wondering why we wanted to know.  
"His name's Tassiter"  
We all looked between us. True enough, none of us knew him.  
"Where did you work?" asked Troye.  
"A company that makes weapons mostly, sometimes shields"  
Me and Dan seemed to be the only ones that found that suspicious. She didn't mention the name.  
I let it slip, only because I didn't want to spread possible false rumors.  
"That still doesn't explain why you came to Hollow point"  
"I had heard a rumor that people are unable to be tracked here" Ally answered.  
A couple of us nodded. The rumor definitely floated around, but was it true?  
"What are you planning to do now?" Tyler softly asked.  
She shrugged her shoulders while sighing.  
"I don't know" Ally said. "I was planning on staying in Hollow point, but I don't want to hurt anyone in the process"  
Some of us still absolutely didn't trust her as far as we could throw her. And that's not very far.  
But having a strong Alpha who is quite good with how guns work couldn't hurt.  
Everyone (albeit, some begrudgingly) nodded their approval to Mark.  
"You can stay with us if you want" Mark said while crossing his arms. "But we have to go over some rules first"  
"Not until you eat my food! It's going to get cold at this rate!" Tyler said, pouting.  
Mark sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, while the majority of us laughed.  
"Wait, so who wears the pants around here?"  
We couldn't tell if she was serious or joking. Either way, we found it funny.  
"Welcome to the family" I said, placing my hand under my chin.  
"Thanks for having me"


	6. (6) Highway to hell

Allison's P.O.V.:

"So how old are you?"  
"18"  
"Really? You look older"  
"Yeah, I get that a lot"  
As I walked along side Phil and Dan, Phil seemed quite interested in figuring more about me. Mark had sent the three of us to go collect more wooden planks, to replace the ones that got damaged in the mini fire.  
"Do you have many siblings?"  
"Nah, just my bother"  
"Older or younger?"  
"He's older"  
"How much older?"  
"He's two years older"  
Dan was intent on not looking at me the entire time we walked. I couldn't blame him, but I also found it the slightest bit annoying.  
I found it quite childish.  
But, I knew arguing with him really wouldn't work out well. So I just spent more energy looking at Phil.  
Phil had pretty dark hair, his fringe swiping towards his right while the rest of his fringe framed around his head.  
He had a older look about him, but he had the humor of a teenager.  
Looking at him reminded me more and more about my brother. The bad jokes, the kind yet silly personality.  
When he smiled, his eyes seemed to reflect the same.  
He was about half a head taller than me, causing us to tilt our heads to compensate for the height difference.  
His body wasn't really well built, him being quite skinny. I couldn't guess which class he was (Beta or Omega) due to the fact the suppressants had completely gotten rid of my smell.  
I knew it would be a moot point to ask him which class he was in, seeing as Omega can't smell themselves or other Omega, and because Beta are extremely hard to smell regardless.  
Dan would also probably find it suspicious that I would want to know.  
"What classes were your parents?"  
"My parents were both Beta"  
"How is that possible?" asked Dan skeptical. "Two Beta can't make a Alpha"  
"Just like Alpha can't be females?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.  
He was taken aback by the sound argument.  
"Look, I know it sounds impossible" I said. "But I swear, both my parents were Beta"  
"I believe it" Phil said. "My parents were both Alpha and Beta"  
That meant he had to be Omega.  
"What about your parents Dan?"  
He really didn't like that question. He first shot me a glare, then avoided my gaze like he had before.  
Phil used his hand to tuck my hair behind my ear before whispering.  
"Dan doesn't like talking about his parents" Phil whispered, looking at Dan the entire time. "All I know is that they were both male"  
I bit my lip. The only way for the parents to both be male was if the pairing was a male Omega with another male.  
Omega had the possibility to get pregnant, regardless of the gender. However only males are able to impregnate male Omega.  
This either happens when the Omega is in their heat, or if the Omega had their bonding site bitten. A bonding site was a certain location on a Omega (the location differs from Omega to Omega) that would usually only be shared with their bond mate. Others had a bonding site as well, but they did not send a person into heat like it would for a Omega.  
In class society, this was seen as the worst kind of insult possible to Omega. Most laws in decent society made this impossible, however some people still broke it.  
Most class society made it that two males or two females had to adopt, rather than make their own kids. But some Alpha found it funny to get a male Omega knocked up. Naturally, most male to female couples could have kids, regardless of class.  
Many male Omega who had a kid against their will, would abandon their child. I suspected this to be the case with Dan.  
He still avoided my gaze like the plague, so I simply dropped the subject.  
"What were your parents talents?" asked Phil, not letting the momentary awkward question hold him back. "You know, cause they both were Beta"  
"My dad's talent was computers, he could do almost anything with them" I said, loving the trip down memory lane. "My mum excelled at geology"  
"How did they meet?"  
"At university"  
"What were they majoring in?"  
"Geology" I answered. "My dad sucked at getting to class on time"  
"What time would he get there?"  
"Four in the afternoon"  
Phil and me laughed, Dan looking a bit more comfortable with our banter in the background. He still looked a bit peeved with me, but it was definitely less than before.  
"What about your brother?" asked Dan quietly. "What class is he?"  
"Beta"  
Phil and Dan gave each other a look.  
"I would constantly get called the adopted one due to my different class" I grumbled. "Seeing as they were all Beta and I was Alpha"  
Phil gave a sympathetic look, Dan looking like he was sorry for asking the question.  
"What was your brother's talent?" asked Phil, trying to clear up the awkward atmosphere.  
"He was good at drawing, but he never believed me when I said they looked good" I answered. "He now claims that his talent is gun making, but I don't believe him"  
"Where does he work?"  
"Dahl"  
"Oh dear"  
"Yeah, that was my reaction too"  
The two boys started to slow down, Phil pointing at what looked like a garage.  
"This is where we need to be"  
Scooter's garage. I think I remember walking past the place the previous night. Of course it was shut back then.  
The three of us walked in, seeing a very greasy man fiddling with a clipboard.  
"Scooter"  
Scooter raised his head at Dan's voice, getting a huge grin on his face.  
"Well hello boys, what can I do for ya?"  
"Do you have any more spare wood that you don't need?" asked Dan, placing his hands on his hips.  
"Aw shucks boys, you took the last shipment" said Scooter, flinging his clipboard onto a nearby desk. "I promised Janey that she would get this one"  
"Oh, uh, yeah" said Phil, suddenly getting awkward. "How is she at the moment?"  
"Phil, wood is more important right now" said Dan while crossing his arms.  
Scooter then noticed me, almost as though he had not seen me when I entered the garage.  
His eyes widened, while his jaw dropped. I don't think I'm pretty enough to warrant that reaction.  
I started to play with my hair, not sure what else I was supposed to do.  
"Scooter, hey!" said Dan as he started to snap his fingers in front of Scooter's face. "SCOOTER!"  
"Hu- What?"  
"Pay attention!"  
"Sorry, sorry" said Scooter as he composed himself. "What were we talking 'bout again?"  
Dan rolled his eyes while rubbing his leg.  
"Wood!"  
"Wood? Morning wood?" Scooter said, completely forgetting what they had talked about.  
Phil laughed while slapping his thigh, while Dan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.  
"Geez, what's goin on 'ere?"  
I turned around to see a short haired blonde lady. She had a couple of scars on her face as well as arms.  
Her eyes fell on me, a smirk growing on her face.  
"So, who's girl are you?" said the lady. "Cause if I was single, I'd go for ya"  
I laughed.  
"I'm not anyone's girl" I answered. "I don't think people like me enough"  
"Oh, hun" she said shaking her head gently. "That's not the impression I'm gettin from Dan and Phil"  
Dan looked at her confused, while Phil looked almost mortified to see the woman.  
"H-Hey Janey" Phil mumbled. "How's things?"  
"Things are great" Janey answered, starting to grab her toolbox from the floor in the middle of the garage. "I'm glad you found someone right for ya after you an me"  
"Oh-uh, no, she's..." began Phil.  
Dan eyed Phil warily.  
"Are you always this awkward around your exes?" asked Dan.  
"No, just around Janey"  
Janey laughed, before giving Phil a playful smack on the shoulder.  
"So, what do ya guys need?"  
"We need wood to replace some damaged boards in the motel" Dan said, starting to look annoyed.  
Janey clicked her tongue, looking at Scooter.  
"Unless Scoot ere has some, you're outta luck"  
Dan knew what the answer was from Scooter, so he sighed.  
We all gave quick goodbyes and good lucks to the two mechanics before heading off.  
"Great, now what do we do?"  
"We could head over to the marketplace" Phil suggested.  
"That's only open during the night cycle" Dan retorted.  
We ended up simply walking in the general direction of the motel, none of us really speaking.  
I didn't know what to speak about, Dan didn't seem in the mood for talking and Phil still seemed to be in shock from talking to Janey.  
For some reason, my gaze rested on Dan, checking him out the way I had done Phil earlier.  
Unlike Phil, Dan looked quite youthful. If he had told me he was my age, I would probably have believed him.  
I couldn't compare their smiles, cause in the time I knew Dan, he hadn't smiled a single time at me.  
While Phil had a almost childlike attitude about a lot of things, Dan seemed more serious and down to earth.  
I had to admit, the combination of the two of seemed to work quite well.  
"Why are you looking at me like that?"  
Oops. He caught me staring.  
"Are these clothes that I'm wearing yours?"  
Smooth. He's really gonna believe that.  
"Yeah, they are"  
Wait, he actually accepted that as a proper reason?!  
"Do you need them back anytime soon?"  
"Not right now, but I'd like it back sometime"  
"Of course"  
As we walked by the alleyway that led to that weird bar, the three of us noticed some familiar faces.  
Jack and Mark were entering the bar.  
"Isn't that really bloody dangerous with the Alpha having their heat this week?" I asked, looking to both men.  
"Yeah, we only went to Scooter's cause it was somewhere safe and cause we had you with us" said Phil.  
Wait, does that mean they trust me enough to protect them?  
"What the hell are those two doing?! They're gonna get themselves killed, or worse!" Dan said, looking like he was gonna faint.  
"Well, we should go help them" I answered.  
I took a step in that direction, only to see that Dan and Phil didn't move an inch.  
"Oh hell no! The last time we went there, we nearly got shot!" Dan said while biting his lip.  
Phil nodded his head.  
"Not to mention the owner's a Alpha" said Phil peering around me.  
I made up my mind pretty easily what I was going to do.  
"Go back to the motel, I'll go help them alone"  
Dan looked like he was about to protest, but Phil gave him a small push in the direction of the motel.  
"Please bring them back safe" Phil said with pleading eyes.  
"Will do"  
The two scampered off down the street, leaving me alone.  
Well, let's hope the owner isn't trigger happy.


	7. (7) Partners in crime

Allison's P.O.V.:

As I walked down the sick filled alleyway, I looked up the the slightly familiar sign that I had seen the previous night.  
The Purple Skag. It's almost like the owner wanted to scare away people.  
From what Dan and Phil had said before they ran home, I hoped to god and back that the Alpha took suppressants or something.  
Otherwise the boys are in big trouble.  
I noticed graffiti on the nearby wall, most of it being unintelligible drivel made by psychos or idiots.  
Only a single thing drew my attention, a poster being placed somewhere almost hidden away.  
It was a wanted poster, showing Mark's face on it. It didn't say what he had done or what the reward was. Just that he had to be taken alive and brought to a certain location.  
The photo was also not really a nice one. It showed Mark, his face bruised and bloody, tears coming out of his eyes.  
In fact, he looked like he had been knocked unconscious, a random hand gripping his hair to keep him upright. The more I looked at it, the more annoyed I became.  
I grabbed it off the wall, ripping it to shreds in my hands. Once I was satisfied it was destroyed enough, I kept walking towards the bar.  
As I came to the front door, a big muscle bound man stood in my way. He looked like the stereotypical idiot Alpha.  
He had nuts and bolts in a lot of places on his shoulders, them glistening in the dim light from the bar.  
He scowled at me when I approached him further.  
"I need to get inside" I calmly said, placing a hand on my hip.  
"The boss is busy" He responded with the same ease I had said my sentence.  
"I'm with the people who just entered the place"  
"No you ain't" he said, crossing his huge arms across his chest. "I know them boys, and you haven't been round them"  
"I'm new"  
"Prove it"  
I opened my mouth to protest or say something obscene, but a noise from inside the bar distracted the both of us. It sounded like a piece of glass smashing. I didn't see a window broken, which could be both a good and a bad sign.  
"Move fat ass" I growled, moving myself threateningly towards him.  
He simply laughed, probably thinking I couldn't touch him or some stupid logic like that.  
"Look at yourself girl" he said smugly. "A small thing like you couldn't do shit against me"  
Now it was my turn to laugh.  
"That's adorable" I smirked. "You think that's how this is gonna work"  
I placed a hand on his shoulder, gripping it tightly.  
"Wha-  
I used only my right arm to lightly fling him out of my way, him going skidding down the road about five metres.  
"Stay out of my way, moron" I said, turning the door knob of the front door.  
When I opened the door, I saw some guy with a beer bottle in his hand, angrily pointing at Mark and Jack across the room.  
"Man, fuck you two! That gun's perfectly f-" he knocked over a glass by accident before continuing. "Perfectly fine!"  
The man had blonde hair which was styled into a upward sort of mohawk. He had a small goatee, it also being the same shade of blonde.  
On his nose, was a light green nose ring, which matched the ones in his right ear.  
He also seemed heavily drunk, with him stumbling all over the place as well as knocking over things accidentally.  
Mark and Jack took a step away from the drunk man, staying close to one another. Mark turned his head, seeing me.  
I nodded my head in a greeting towards Mark, before moving to stand beside them.  
"Who the-" he smacked his leg into a chair. "Who the fuck are you?"  
"Well, aren't I glad you're a silly drunk" I said, smirking to myself.  
Mark and Jack were waving their hands frantically in a way to tell me to not aggravate him. Luckily, the drunk man didn't notice anything they did.  
"Bitch, I'll mop the floor with you!" he said, throwing his beer bottle over my shoulder.  
"Ah, a silly drunk AND and a angry drunk" I said snickering. "That's a bad combination dude"  
"Stop!" Mark whisper shouted. "You're making things worse!"  
I waved him off, focusing my attention on the drunk guy. I knew perfectly what I was doing.  
Surprisingly, the drunk guy calmed down, coming close to me to take a closer look. He audibly sniffed.  
"You don't smell like anything" he said in his drunken drawl. "But you can't be a Beta"  
"Why not?"  
"Cause no Beta acts like you do" he said, pointing at my chest while doing so. "Besides, I can smell Beta pretty good when I'm in my heat"  
I noticed Jack pull a face. That probably means he's a Beta.  
The guy I flung down the road came barging into the room, rubbing his shoulder in pain.  
"I'm sorry August sir!" he said hurriedly. "I didn't think she'd be that strong! I have no idea why that is!"  
"August" didn't look away from me. He smirked, which actually looked more like he froze mid wink. One eye half shut with a stupid grin on his face.  
"That's cause she's a Alpha" August purred. "You should be honored Tector, there aren't that many of them"  
I placed my hands on my hips, looking at him with my most threatening face. It was kinda hard to do so, seeing as he was half a head taller than me.  
August waved off Tector. Tector listened, shutting the door to the bar.  
August leaned against a table, almost falling over it.  
"So, what are you doing here?"  
"I'm making sure you don't hurt my boys"  
Mark and Jack both looked a bit confused, but seemed to let it slide. August laughed, which sounded more like he was snorting.  
"Your boys eh?" August slurred, before turning to Mark and Jack. "Is she with you schmucks?"  
"Yes" Mark said, placing a hand on my shoulder.  
I could feel his hand shaking on my shoulder. I hoped it wasn't because he was touching me.  
August looked between the three of us, before shrugging his shoulders unceremoniously.  
"Whatever floats your boat hun" August mumbled before focusing on the guys. "What did you guys want again?"  
"A new gun"  
"Why? It works doesn't it?"  
August seemed to get back his annoyed attitude, his nostrils flaring. Jack sighed lightly, not loud enough for August to hear him.  
"The return spring is not good, not to mention the barrel is loose" I answered, pulling has attention back to me.  
"Who cares? If it shoots, it shoots" August said while waving his hand weirdly. "If it breaks, you get a new one"  
"That's exactly why we are here" Mark answered, staying close to me. "We want to get it replaced"  
"Yeah, but getting it replaced is different from buying a new one, dude"  
August rested his eyes one me, his failed smirk returning.  
"I'll give you one if she kisses me"  
"No" I said shaking my head firmly.  
He clicked his tongue, but didn't press the subject further. He's not that bad looking, but I don't wanna kiss a guy when he's in heat and drunk.  
He scanned the rest of the bar, looking for something. When he found it, he stumbled his way over to the dart board, picking one off it.  
To my surprise, he ties it to a lamp, letting it dangle from it.  
"If you're so good at guns as you seem to spout" August said, sitting down (And nearly missing) on a nearby stool. "Surely you can hit the skinny part of the dart"  
I nodded my head, accepting his mock challenge. I held my hand out to Jack, awaiting the gun.  
I soon felt the gun in my hand, my fingers curling around it naturally.  
A quick check to the sights, the barrel and the firing pin, I clicked back the firing pin.  
I held it out, turning the safety off and pulling the trigger swiftly. I heard the sound of the gun firing, bullet against metal, then hearing the thudding noise of the bullet lodging itself into the wooden wall of the bar.  
I felt the recoil of the gun in my hand, it feeling like a small slap. It really is a weak gun.  
I flicked the safety back on, taking in the shocked looks of Mark and Jack, along with the nod of approval from August.  
I had hit the dart perfectly, the end of the dart missing.  
"Nice" August said, sounding genuinely impressed. "Even with a shit gun like that, you did good"  
I opened the gun, taking the spent bullet out. I then removed the rest of the viable bullets, slipping them into my pocket.  
I handed the empty gun to August, the barrel pointing to the floor.  
"Now then, you did promise"  
"Yeah, I did, didn't I?"  
August went behind the counter, looking for a gun. While he did, I flashed a thumbs up towards Mark and Jack.  
Mark simply looked stupefied at me, while Jack raised a thumbs up in return to mine, a silly grin on his face. It was the first smile Jack had given me.  
August returned, holding a dark blue pistol out towards me. When I took it, I felt the heavy weight that I was used to with guns.  
I looked at all the components, seeing it was a single shot pistol. It had everything working on it.  
It had a extra button on it near the sight, which peaked my interest. When I pressed it, the gun changed colour to a green colour.  
Another experimental push, and the gun turned red.  
"Wait" I said shocked. "Is this a gun that can change elements?!"  
"Hell yeah it is" August said, loving my enthusiasm for the gun. "Only problem is, you have to reload it every fucking time"  
I could see how that might be annoying. But the elemental part makes up for it. I was great at reloading quickly, so that wasn't a problem for me.  
I gave August a smile.  
"Thanks man"  
"Hey, no problem" said August. "Anything for someone who loves guns"  
Mark took this as our cue to leave, taking me and Jack by the wrist.  
Once we were out of the Purple Skag and far enough away from Tector, did Jack become excited.  
"Holy shit that was awesome!"  
I laughed, while Mark just grinned at him.  
"I got to admit, I thought that when you showed up that everything was going to go pear shaped" said Mark, grinning at me. "But you can really handle yourself"  
"Yeah! And did you see her shooting! Holy crap you have to teach me sometime!" Jack said, about as happy as a kid in a candy shop.  
"I thought I wasn't trust worthy?" I joked.  
Jack sheepishly played with his fingers.  
"Yeah, sorry" Jack said, avoiding my gaze. "There aren't many Alpha that we could trust in the past, so we kinda jumped to conclusions"  
"Hey, don't worry about it" I said while handing him the elemental pistol. "I completely understand, most Alpha aren't very nice people"  
Jack raised his eyes back to me, hesitantly taking the gun.  
"Aren't you gonna take this?"  
"Why?"  
"You're a way better shot than me"  
"I can throw people over buildings" I said showing off my biceps. "I'll be fine"  
"You two should share it" said Mark. (Speaking of biceps XD)  
We both nodded, agreeing with that statement. Jack placed it in the back of his pants, like usual.  
"Why aren't Phil and Dan with you?" asked Mark.  
"I sent them home when I came to save your arses"  
Jack giggled while Mark chuckled. They both then tried to stop themselves, trying to look mature. I simply raised an eyebrow while smirking, which almost set them off again.  
I gently patted them both on the shoulder, making sure not to use too much force.  
"Come on, let's go home"


	8. (8) Uptown funk

Troye's P.O.V.:

"Come on slow pokes!"  
"Isn't it dangerous to be out at this time?"  
"We'll be quick!"  
I sighed, jogging to keep up with the to excited boys.  
Tyler insisted that we go to the night market, saying that they wanted to find some proper clothes for our new housemate. Connor and I came along, worried that he would get himself hurt, due to the Alpha heat week being in full swing.  
I started fishing in my pocket for my wallet, me being the only one in the group that had money remaining for our construction work.  
"I don't understand"  
"Don't understand what?"  
"Why Mark still trusts her" I answered, looking up. "I mean, he's had the worst experience with Alpha"  
Tyler lightly slapped my face, not enough to even hurt. I still didn't understand why he did it though.  
"Remember Troye" Tyler said, a serious tone coming to his voice. "A person is a person, regardless of their class"  
Connor and me looked at each other, not sure how to take the comment.  
"Yeah, but Alpha are way more known for causing trouble" Connor said, trying to make Tyler see the other side of the argument. "They also are the ones who can get away with it the most, because they are strong and because Alpha all band together"  
"Not all Alpha band together" Tyler responded. "And just because they are more known for causing trouble, doesn't mean all Alpha are the same"  
The three of us stopped for a moment, letting a group of what seemed to be drunk bandits walk out of a alleyway in front of us.  
I looked hesitantly at Connor. His talent was being able to run fast and for longer distances than most people, but it wouldn't work well if he had to run with both me and Tyler. He returned my look, us nervously taking a step back.  
He would either have to carry us both, slowing himself down dramatically. Or he could run on his own back to the motel, which would leave me and Tyler vulnerable.  
Luckily for the three of us, the bunch of drunk bandits turned to go down the opposite way from us.  
We all sighed in relief.  
"I still think we should head back" Connor said nervously, his lip quivering.  
"Would you rather that we wait for it to be pitch black and for us to come back with Ally?" Tyler asked, but we both were not sure if he was being serious or sarcastic.  
Connor shook his head along with me. We didn't trust Ally enough to take that chance yet. Tyler simply didn't like the idea of going out in the dark.  
"Let's just hurry and get back"  
We all agreed to the statement, a new energy pressuring us to walk faster.  
"Back to the previous topic" Tyler said, not giving up. "Judging someone for being a Alpha is exactly the same as someone judging Troye because he's Omega"  
And there's Tyler's talent. Being able to persuade people.  
He can persuade so many people into doing things they didn't even begin to think about.  
I once saw him persuade some bandit that it was a bad idea to attack him, giving us enough time to run away from him.  
I sometimes was amazed, other times terrified of what he might have done if he was evil.  
I didn't have a natural talent, with me being a Omega.  
I was, however, gifted with great vocal chords. I also had been tested and proven to be able to remember sounds well, knowing them at a single tone.  
"So, what do you think she'll want to wear?" Tyler asked. "A skirt with leggings?"  
"It's too cold in Hollow point for that" I said placing my hands behind my head. "What was she wearing when she came into our motel again?"  
"She was wearing pants, a shirt and a cloak if I remember correctly" answered Connor, scratching his chin. "Ah, here we are"  
Like he said, the night market loomed ahead of us. The lights hadn't been turned on, nor had all of the stalls been set up.  
This was a good sign to us, meaning the bustling busy part hadn't begun. We could quickly check the clothing stalls and leave long before anything happened.  
"Ah! There's one!" Tyler mentioned, pointing to a store that was starting to place coat hangers all over his shop with clothing on them.  
All the clothing that hung there was either red, black, a dark blue or brown. The typical colours in Hollow point.  
None of the clothing looked particularly girly, most of it being the stock clothing that the bandits in the neighbourhood wore.  
"I don't think she'd like anything here" I admitted, scanning my eyes over all the items of clothing.  
"Yeah, I think so too" Connor agreed, sighing to himself. "I guess this was a waste of time"  
"Now hold on, let's not be so hasty" Tyler said, leaning forward to inspect the clothing items. "Maybe she would like a mask, after all we don't what she- AARGH!"  
I looked over to Tyler to see what he had screeched about. Some random guy decided to grope him, grabbing his right butt cheek.  
"Dude! Buy me dinner first!" Tyler said offended, swerving around to glare at the man. "Don't you have... any..."  
Tyler paused mid sentence as many other bandits in the area started to all appear from nowhere, all of them making strange growling noises or laughing. When I looked closer at many of them, I noticed they looked like the bandits we had avoided earlier along the road.  
Shit. I should have known they were up to no good.  
"You smell sweet..." the man who groped Tyler whispered, leaning his face closer to Tyler. "I didn't know Beta smelled this good..."  
Tyler took a step back, banging into the clothing stall. He raised his arms in a vain attempt to tell the guy to back off.  
I looked over to see if the guy who owned the stall was still there, but he had long run away once conflict had started to arise.  
"N-Now now, let's not g-get hasty" Tyler said, his voice wavering and losing its persuasive powers. "I'm s-sure there's some nice lady that m-might fancy a g-g-guy like you"  
One thing that I knew better than anything, was that Tyler's persuasive talent would only come into effect when he was calm and spoke clearly.  
I looked over to Connor, seeing him frozen in place, a frightened look on his face.  
Connor's talent would only get himself out of trouble, but likely not get everyone out of trouble.  
Guess that only leaves me. With my good singing and being able to remember distinct sounds.  
Shit.  
This isn't good.  
"OMEGA..."  
I instinctively flinched after hearing the unfamiliar voice in my ear, swinging around to notice a whole bunch of bandits had snuck up behind me and Connor as well.  
I swung my leg at the nearest bandits leg, hoping to knock some sense into both my friends and the bandits.  
The only thing that ended up happening was that my leg smacked into his leg, causing extreme pain for me while he didn't seem to flinch.  
Why do Omega have to be so weak?!  
"AAH!"  
Tyler let out a frantic scream, a bandit picking him up by the waist and trying to sling him over his shoulder.  
"No! No! NO! NO! SOMEONE HELP ME!"

* * *

Someone flew down the same alleyway which we had come from, kicking the bandit in the face. The bandit flew over a couple of stands, crashing into one that contained a whole bunch of cabbages. (MY CABBAGES!)  
Tyler landed somewhat inelegantly on the ground, while the person who had kicked the bandit stood up from the crouching position that had been forced to land in. They flung their blonde hair over their shoulder, placing their hand on their hip mockingly.  
"So much for a bandit" they chuckled to themselves. "A real bandit would have drawn their weapon and used it instead of grabbing some random dude"  
The familiar galaxy themed clothing, the enormous strength and their long, almost wavy blond hair made it obvious to who it could be.  
"Ally?!" I uttered, shocked. Why would she come help us?!  
She smirked, her blue eyes having a newfound mischievous streak in them.  
"You expecting someone else to drag your butts out of the fire?" she said, winking at me.  
Tyler scrambled up to his feet, moving closer to her for some kind of support. Many of the bandits still seemed to be in shock from their buddy getting launched.  
"Geez, how drunk do these idiots have to be?" she joked. "And here I thought I was going to have a challenge"  
One of the bandits seemed to take this as a challenge, pulling a knife out of his boot and charging at Tyler with it.  
"Move princess, unless you plan to have a new scar" Ally said, placing her right arm around his waist.  
With the grace and speed of a ballerina, she picked Tyler up, placing him in his new precarious position onto her right shoulder, him shrieking shrilly as she did so. With her available left arm, she grabbed the bandits arm, twisting it a full 180 degrees.  
"Hey dude, can you now touch your elbow with that hand?" she said while snorting to herself.  
"OWW!"  
"I'm gonna assume that means no"  
All the bandits now focused their attention on her, losing interest in the rest of us caught in the vicinity. She used both her hands to fling Tyler our way.  
Unfortunately, Connor and me sucked at catching. Tyler ended up smacking into the both of us, knocking the three of us into a messy pile of limbs.  
While we tried to sort out how to get untangled from each other, we heard the rowdy noises of fighting from where we knew Ally to be.  
Occasionally we would get a bandit getting launched our way, us trying to move out of the way from any of them.  
A whole bunch of noises seemed to be blended into each other.  
Wood breaking. Bones snapping. The bandits yelling obscenities. Punches. I even think we heard a noise that sounded like someone was slapping someone. Whether it was Ally slapping someone else or that she was getting slapped, we didn't know. In fact, we didn't know if any were directed toward her or not.  
Once the noise died down, did we decide to snap out of our shock to the situation.  
Tyler used a nearby lamp pole to drag himself up off us, looking over to the carnage.  
"Oh my god..."  
When me and Connor finally managed to get up, did we see what Tyler was talking about.  
Ally stood in the same spot she was standing in originally, not even seeming winded from the fight.  
None of the bandits had even landed a scratch on her, them all strewn about in random places around her.  
She stretched her shoulders, looking around herself at the fallen bandits.  
How was she able to do that while on suppressants? Most of us back at the motel couldn't even stand being on that stuff for a couple of minutes.  
"Wow" she sighed to herself. "You all are really pathetic"  
Pathetic?! They could have taken us down no problem!  
How the hell did she get the idea this was easy?!  
"No guns, you're all drunk, two guys with knives" she shook her head as she spoke. "And you pick on people who didn't do anything to you! Honestly"  
Wait, so they weren't pathetic because they were weak. They were pathetic in her eyes due to them being people who picked on the weak?  
Tyler lightly jabbed the both of us in the ribs.  
"What did I tell you? She's a good person"  
That, or she's really good at lying.  
And anyway, wasn't she supposed to be with Dan and Phil?  
"Where's Dan and Phil?" I asked, drawing her attention to me.  
"They got sent home by me when Jack and Mark needed my help at the Purple Skag"  
Wait, what?!  
"Then they all realised that you three were missing at home, so they asked if I could look for you" she answered, moving closer to us. "And boy am I glad they did! If I hadn't showed up just now..."  
She trailed off, not finishing her sentence. Our imaginations were enough to fill in the blanks.  
Bad things would have happened.  
"Oh my god! You're bleeding!" Connor gasped, pointing at her left hand.  
Ally raised her left palm to her face, inspecting it.  
We all could see the red drops dripping onto the wooden floor beneath us all.  
"Huh, so it is"  
"Why are you so calm about your hand bleeding?!" Connor asked, grabbing out a bandage he had stored in his pocket.  
"Eh" she said while shrugging her shoulders. "To be honest, I've had worse"  
She stayed still, letting Connor bandage her hand.  
What was she doing before in life that makes a deep cut on the palm of her hand to seem like a cakewalk?  
I felt as though she was unconsciously dropping clues, each of them hinting at what she was still hiding from us.  
She found the fight easy, she found the cut not that serious.  
She obviously had previous fighting experience. I couldn't figure out much more about her.  
Despite the fact she could have easily hurt us, she didn't. She could have left us the day after the accident happened between Mark and her, but she didn't. Everything about her being a Alpha seemed untrue, minus her abundant strength.  
I didn't understand her at all.  
"So, what were you guys even here for?" Ally said, satisfied with the first aid applied to her. "Dan and Phil were planning to come here for wood, but you guys can't have known about that"  
"We were looking for clothes" answered Tyler.  
"Clothes? For who?"  
"You" I answered. "We thought you might want some different clothes than the loaned clothes from Dan"  
She looked taken aback, as though she had not expected the answer in the least.  
She played with her hair, twirling it around her index finger. She seemed to glance at the floor, unsure what to say.  
"Well, just wait until it's safe to go next time" she told us. "I don't want anything bad to happen to you guys"  
We couldn't agree more with that statement. If this trip was any kind of message, it's that it wasn't safe to go out without Jack, Mark or Ally.  
Jack for his guns skills, Mark for his quick thinking. And Ally for her gun prowess and fighting skills.  
"Let's head home, shall we?" Tyler asked, sighing in relief.  
"Hold up! While we're here, we should get some wood" Ally said, scanning the stalls. "Scooter and Janey didn't have any"  
"Alright, how many did we need in the end?" asked Connor, joining her in the search.  
"Four, I think" Ally said, her cheerful attitude returning. "Ah! Found it! Now let's hope they didn't mind me being in that fight"  
Ally jogged over to the stall, beckoning for us to follow her.  
We did so, much more willingly now that she seemed much more trustworthy to us all.  
Who knows, maybe her showing up to our door was the best thing to happen to us lately.


	9. (9) Round and round we go

PJ's P.O.V.:

"She isn't going to like it Chris"  
"Hush, she'll love it"  
Chris decided that it was best to set up a icebreaker for our newest addition to the family, so that she would feel more comfortable around us all.  
I had agreed at first, until I had seen the game Chris dragged out of Phil's closet.  
"Chris, playing truth or dare is going to make things awkward" I complained to him. "Do you want that?"  
I instantly regretted saying that, him turning to me with a gleeful grin.  
"Yes" Chris admitted, shuffling the cards around in his hand. "You know I love awkward"  
I sighed, playing with my fingers as Chris dutifully set up the dining room table for the game.  
"What if it ends up just being you two?"  
He waggled his eyebrows at me.  
"I make it saucy"  
"Chris, no"  
"Chris yes"  
I heard snickering from up the stairs. When I turned my head, I saw Phil trying (Emphasis on trying) to hide behind a banister of the stairs. Dan was simply standing behind him, giving a smirk to the both of us.  
"I always knew you two had the hots for each other" Dan said, laughing more to himself than anyone else. "But get a room when you do"  
"No, we're talking about truth or dare with Ally" I explained, shoving Chris away who had decided it was a good idea to pretend to kiss me.  
Dan's face turned slightly sour, as though he had just bitten a lemon.  
"Oh"  
He doesn't hate her that much, does he?  
"Why don't you play Dan?" Chris asked of him, writing more questions for the Truth pile. "You'll get to ask her questions and figure out more about her"  
Dan looked down, then up, then down again. He seemed to be having difficulty making up his mind.  
Chris always seems to know what to say to get stubborn people to agree with him. He even would know what to say to me.  
He triumphantly flung his arms around, showing off the two piles. One was questions, the other being dares for everyone.  
After all, it gets boring if you just go around asking the same questions or doing the same dares.  
"We'll play" Came the deep voice of Mark.  
Mark and Jack came down from upstairs, done fixing whatever they had to fix.  
Jack was busy trying to get his newly acquired gun to stay attached to his belt. Apparently they talked about it being too heavy, so it pulls down Jack's pants when he tries to carry it like he did his previous pistol.  
"How come?~ You wanna get a piece of her action?" Chris joked.  
"Can't it simply be that I want to know her better?" Mark replied, chuckling softly.  
Jack didn't respond, still fiddling with his gun and trying to get it to stay still. The two of them told the rest of us about the heroic rescue that Ally had done, dealing with August easily.  
Phil had explained what had happened before that, them going to the garage, only to see Mark and Jack on the way back.  
In fact, once Ally realised that Tyler, Troye and Connor weren't here, she immediately went out to go look for them.  
"Jack, if you keep playing with your pants, it's a sign that you're horny" Dan joked.  
Jack suddenly raised his head, as though he had just heard people talking to him. He saw everyone grinning at him, but he didn't seem to understand what was going on.  
"What?"  
"Nothing Jack" Mark responded, slapping his shoulder lightly. "It's not important"  
Jack still seemed confused, but let it go. Both literally and figuratively, the gun clanging against the ground.  
"Fuckin piece of shite"  
He picked it up, but simply held it in his hand instead of his pants.  
"Hey Bossanova" said Chris, using the nickname he had made up a while ago for Jack. "You gonna play?"  
"Depends" Jack said, placing the gun on the dining table. "What is it?"  
"Truth or dare"  
"The tame one or the non tame one?"  
"Wait, there's a non tame one?!"  
Jack grinned, whipping out his phone and proceeding to look something up. Everyone present crowded around his shoulders to try and see what he was searching up.  
The results ended up being quite shocking.  
"Give head for three minutes?!"  
"Put a...thing in your..thing..."  
"Do naked yoga?"  
"Make me...go... without touching my privates?"  
"Jack yourself off in front of everyone?!"  
Phil looked like he wanted to make a pun, but Jack promptly made him shut up with a well timed glare.  
"We shouldn't do this version" Mark said, taking a step back from the phone containing the weird truth and dares.  
"Why not? Sounds fun to me" said Chris, his grin growing even larger than before.  
"First of all, not everyone will want to play that version" Mark said, his cheeks growing a shade of red. "And Ally would be the only girl, making it very uneven in the boy to girl ratio"  
"That second one doesn't sound like a problem to me"  
"Dude, most of us are straight" I chipped in, hoping to steer the course away from the current dangerous one.  
"So is spaghetti until things get steamy" Chris responded.  
"You'd be fine with giving a dude head?!" Asked Dan incredulously.  
Chris seemed to ponder that for a moment, looking at some of us.  
"Actually, that might make things awkward between us"  
"I thought you loved awkward"  
"Not that awkward"  
With that time bomb defused, we heard the front door opening.  
"Room service~"  
Ally walked in, holding two large wooden beams perched on her right shoulder, only one of her left shoulder.  
"Somebody asked for wood?" Ally asked, winking at the majority of us.  
Chris waggled his eyes at her, her laughing in response.  
"Wait until I put the wood down first" she said as she placed the beams in the corner of the dining room.  
"Where are the guys?"  
"Oh, they're coming through the door" Ally responded, starting to fix her somewhat disheveled hair. "They insisted that they wanted to carry a beam themselves"  
Just as she had said, the three boys came through the door only moments after herself. Only difference was, they looked like they were all exhausted and tired from carrying the beam.  
"How the heck could you carry three of these no problem?!"  
"I got muscles"  
When she finished saying her sentence, she flexed her arms muscles and shoulder muscles. They actually looked pretty impressive, lining well with her figure.  
Her chest didn't have much in the room for "padding" but her muscles there were impressive too.  
Her hips rounded out quite nicely, having strong, long legs that seemed to be able to handle anything.  
"Can I help you PJ?"  
I raised my eyes to her face, realising that she had caught me staring at her figure. Everyone around me was laughing softly at the situation.  
She looked at me, a grin on her face, awaiting to see what I would say.  
"You look good"  
Goddammit brain! That's not what I wanted to say!  
Well, maybe it was. But I was going to change it slightly so it sounded less creepy.  
Her smile softened, looking at my feet instead of my face. She twirled some hair while she blushed slightly.  
"Thanks"  
Chris jabbed me in the ribs, flashing me two thumbs up with a goofy grin on his face. In fact, many people seemed like they were giving me encouragement.  
Jack and Dan didn't, both of them gaining a slight frown. Was it for the same reason? I had no idea.  
"Anyway! Would you like to play truth or dare?" asked Phil, motioning to the table and its contents.  
"Truth or dare huh?" she said, moving closer to take a look at the cards. "I haven't played that game in years"  
"How long ago did you play?"  
"It would be about five years back" Ally answered, looking upwards while trying to think back. "It never went anywhere cause it was always just me and my best friend, Bailey"  
Tyler, Troye and Connor loudly placed the wooden beam they were carrying, onto the pile of others that Ally had put down.  
"Ooh! Are you guys playing truth or dare? I love that game!" Tyler said excitedly, while stretching his shoulder.  
"I guess that means everyone wants to play, huh?" Chris said, jumping with glee. "Awesome!"  
We began sitting at the table, after the front door was shut and the gun was placed safely in Jack's lap.  
Chris had set everything up nicely, even the chairs. He really wanted to play this.  
Ally sat at one end, I sat to her right, Chris to my right, Phil to Chris's right and Dan sat to Phil's right.  
On the other side of the table, Mark sat opposite to Ally, smiling warmly at her. She returned the smile, although she looked a bit nervous.  
To Mark's right, Jack sat. On Jack's right was Connor. Connor had Troye on his right. And finally, Tyler sat to Troye's right, sitting on the other side of Ally.  
"Alright, so how do we play?"  
"Instead of people choosing, it is that we go in a circle and each pick out what we feel like choosing"  
Ally nodded her head, seemingly understanding the strange instructions.  
"Shall I start?" she asked.  
"Go ahead" Dan said, most likely eager to know more about her.  
She picked a question out of the truth pile, flipping it over and reading it.  
She burst into laughter, looking at the card.  
"What kind of question is that?!"  
"What does it say?"  
She placed it down, trying her hardest not to laugh any more.  
"Who do you think has the biggest cock in the room?"  
Everyone besides Ally looked at Chris with a accusatory look. He looked shocked more than anything else.  
"What the hell Chris?!"  
"I didn't write that one!"  
"Bullshit!"  
"I didn't!"  
Ally was too busy laughing to really be mad at Chris.  
"Oh my god" Ally said, her cheeks turning red from laughing. "Do I have to answer it?"  
"Yes" Chris said, gaining a smirk directed towards her.  
Everyone once again turned to give Chris an accusatory look. He simply shrugged his shoulders in a weird motion.  
"I don't know, Mark?" Ally said unsure.  
Mark covered his mouth, seemingly trying to hold back laughter. Everyone else lost their mind.  
Once people had calmed down, Ally placed the card back in the pile at the bottom.  
"Go PJ"  
"I know!"  
I picked one out of the truth pile as well, earning me a couple of boo's from the guys.  
"What?"  
"Don't be a pussy!"  
I shook my head, further ignoring them.  
When I flipped the card, it read "Who is your current crush?".  
Perfect. Just what I needed.  
I glanced over at Ally, wondering how the hell I was going to answer this without freaking her out.  
She looked over to me, her eyes reflecting a curious attitude.  
"What'd you get?"  
"It's asking what my type of person is"  
A couple of people nodded their head, liking the question. Chris looked confused, looking at me with disbelief in his eyes.  
"I didn't write one like that" Chris whispered to me, raising an eyebrow.  
I made a hand motion to tell him to be quiet, him just shrugging his shoulders in response.  
"I suppose my type is the adventurous"  
Ally raised her eyebrow, but didn't say anything to give any indication. Did I answer good or bad?  
"Now, because I am not a pussy" said Chris, reaching for the dare pile. "I am going to do a dare"  
He quickly read it, placing it back in the pile almost immediately.  
"This one's boring" Chris huffed. "It was to get picked up bridal style"  
"Dude, we've tried before with me" Jack told him. "We're not strong enough"  
"I am" Ally said. "If Chris is comfortable with that"  
Chris stood up hurriedly, waving his arms in a "come at me bro!" movement. He looked like a utter tool.  
Ally stood up, moving over to him. She placed her left arm under his knee's.  
"Alright, now just lean back"  
Chris laughed nervously, looking at her with fear filled eyes.  
"Have you done this before?" He asked her nervously, becoming more and more nervous with each movement.  
"Yeah, I have"  
"How many times?"  
"I dunno, once?"  
Chris froze. He almost looked like a statue. Only I'm quite certain statues don't look afraid.  
He looked over to her. She looked at him with a serious face, not making any movements.  
She waited patiently for him, not rushing him or saying anything disparaging in the slightest.  
He took a deep breath in, finally leaning back like she told him to.  
Her other arm wrapped around his back, grabbing the side of his chest.  
Once she had a good grip on both sides of him, she lifted him up in one fluid motion.  
Chris wrapped his arms around her shoulders in fright at first, but relaxed once he was securely in her arms.  
His legs dangled off her left arm, his shoulder brought close to her chest. She didn't seem at all fazed by his weight, instead looking at him with concern in her eyes.  
It was almost like she was looking at a younger brother, carrying them home after a long day.  
"Is it still scary?"  
Chris looked at her, shaking his head.  
The rest of us stared in awe, mesmerized by the display of the two of them.  
It was like we were watching a romantic film, except for the reversed gender roles.  
"Hey Chris!" said Phil, snapping the most of us out of our daze. "Do you feel pretty yet?"  
Chris was also snapped out of his daze, looking away from Ally and over to everyone at the table. He placed his hands under his chin, fluttering his eyes.  
"Am I beautiful?"  
A chorus of laughter sounded from the table, bringing the happy atmosphere back.  
"You want to get down now?" Ally asked, smiling at him.  
"I dunno to be honest" Chris responded, scratching his chin in thought. "This is pretty comfortable after all"  
She laughed, before walking over to his chair, placing him down on it.  
"As much as it might be fun to carry you around all day, the game still needs to be played, right?"  
He nodded his head, tapping Phil on the shoulder.  
"Your turn man"  
"Alright"  
He grabbed a card from the dare pile, Dan raising his eyebrow at him.  
"Dude, I thought you hated dares"  
"I do, but I hoped the dares had changed"  
Dan shrugged his shoulders, giving a uninterested look. Phil looked at him for a while longer, waiting to see if he would say anything else.  
When he didn't, Phil simply returned to the card he had picked out.  
"Twerk on the person opposite from you" Phil read out, looking at the card as though it had sprouted legs and started walking.  
Phil raised his head, looking across from himself, seeing Troye. Troye laughed, before giving him a small wave.  
"Why?!"  
"Do it"  
"Come on man!"  
Phil covered his face in his hands, his cheeks turning a dark shade of red.  
Poor Phil.  
"What does twerk mean?" Ally asked, earning a whole bunch of confused looks at her.  
"You don't know what twerk means?"  
"Nope"  
Oh shoot.

* * *

Ally's P.O.V.:

Everyone stared at me, them confused how I could not know what this "Twerk" means. Was it a candy?  
No, that couldn't be. They used it as a verb.  
"So, what does it mean?" I asked, looking at Phil.  
"You don't wanna know" Jack answered, looking at me with a serious face.  
"Go Phil!" Chris said, raising his arms excitedly. "Show her what it means!"  
"Noo! I don't want to!" Phil wailed, holding himself meekly.  
I simply looked confused. It seemed to be something either very embarrassing or sexual, thus Phil's reaction of complete denial.  
Everyone suddenly got quieted down, when Jack slid his phone across the table towards me. A video was loaded on the screen, waiting for me to press the play button.  
"That video is of someone twerking" Jack told me, pointing to his phone with a sigh. "Just don't say I didn't warn you"  
I picked the phone up, pressing the play button instantly. He had turned off the volume, so it was only me, Tyler and P.J. who could see what was going on.  
It was a video of a woman who seemed to be rubbing her butt against a man's nether region. It looked weird, not at all sexual in my opinion.  
I could see why it was considered embarrassing though.  
"It looks kind of like grinding" I answered, thinking of the time my former boss took me to a night club (For business! Get your mind out of the gutter :P).  
Tyler peered over my shoulder, making a face at the twerking on the phone.  
"Yeah, I suppose it does" Tyler agreed. "Except grinding can be nice, especially when done slowly"  
"You sound like you have personal experience" I joked.  
"Of course, I totally go to all the clubs" Tyler joked back.  
Phil was still wallowing in self pity, refusing everyone's comments about how he had to do the dare.  
"Can't I change it?"  
"No, you picked the card!"  
"I don't mean the card! I mean the dare" Phil explained, fixing his disheveled hair. "Can I change it to something like sitting on his lap instead?"  
I felt bad for the guy, so I immediately was fine with the idea of changing it to something he was more comfortable with.  
It looked like many people agreed with me on that standpoint, them nodding their heads in approval.  
"Alright, fine" Chris said, giving in to everyone's wishes. "But you have to stay on his lap until it is his turn!"  
Phil took that as part of it, grateful for the change of dare.  
It looked kind of awkward, tall and skinny Phil trying to sit on the shortish and skinny Troye.  
Phil decided it was better to have both his legs dangling over the side, sitting side on. Troye shifted him slightly, Phil grabbing his shoulder in support when he did so.  
"Comfy?" asked Dan, giving a smirk to both men.  
"It feels kinda weird" Phil admitted, with a shy smile.  
Troye was busy squirming under Phil, obviously not used to the weight of him. Despite the squirming, the both of them didn't seem too uncomfortable with it.  
Dan quickly grabbed a truth, most likely not wanting a weird dare like Chris and Phil.  
"Have you ever considered a threesome?" Dan said, looking at Chris with a bored look. "Really dude?"  
"Come on! Truth or dare is fun when these things are asked and done!"  
Dan shook his head, laughing softly at the strange question and possibly Chris's mentality on the game.  
"To answer that one, the answer is no" Dan said, placing the card back in the pile. "Not now, and not ever"  
"Alright! Go Markimoo!"  
"Markimoo?" I asked, confused.  
"It's one of Mark's nicknames"  
"Oh, alright"  
When I looked over to Mark, he was looking at a card. I assumed it to be a dare, due to the back saying dare in big letters.  
Once he was done, he looked up at me and then back to the card.  
"Shit" Mark mumbled to himself.  
"What's it say?" Connor asked, who was done re-positioning his chair.  
Mark didn't say a word, continuing to look back and forth between me and the card.  
Jack leaned over, peering at the card. Once he saw it, his eyes widened a fraction.  
"Kiss the person sitting across from you" Jack read out.  
Whatever small conversations might have gone on around the table stopped the moment the sentence rang out.  
Some people looked at me, some looked at Mark. Everyone seemed to find the dare not appropriate due to what happened between Mark and me on the first day.  
Or maybe that was what I simply thought, I didn't fully know.  
"I don't think Mark is comfortable with it" I admitted, looking to Chris, who seemed to be mostly in charge of the game. "Do you think we could change it for him?"  
"No, it's fine" Mark said, standing up from his chair.  
He walked around the side that Jack, Connor, Troye, Phil and Tyler sat. Once he got close enough to me, he placed a shaky hand on my shoulder.  
"You sure?" I asked of him, using my quietest and calmest voice as to not scare him.  
He nodded his head, his hair sweeping across his forehead before returning to it's original place. His lip seemed to show his true emotion, it shaking slightly as he opened it.  
"Are you okay with it?" Came out the quietest voice I had heard from a man in a long time.  
I returned his earlier nod, signifying my willingness for him to go ahead.  
He moved his hand from my shoulder over to my cheek, the contact feeling like adrenaline. His hands felt very warm. Warm and rough, as though he had spent a lot of time doing manual labour.  
I looked into his eyes, warm and filled with caring despite having a hint of fright in them.  
"What do you want me to do?" I asked him.  
"This might sound stupid" Mark said, swallowing before he continued. "But, can you close your eyes?"  
I obliged, closing my eyes. Every one of my old senses kicked in, trying to force my eyes open and not trust him.  
I did my best to ignore them all, instead focusing on my other senses.  
I could suddenly hear everyone around me, despite the fact nobody was actually speaking.  
I could hear people's breathing, some were breathing nervously.  
I had obviously waited too long before taking my next suppressant, my lack of vision sparking my sensitive nose awake.  
But it wasn't a garbled mess as it was before. I could smell each person individually, everyone smelling heavenly in their own right.  
Mark smelled like pine and whisky, the whisky making a nice bitter to combat the aromatic pine.  
PJ, who was to my right, smelled like honey and cinnamon. Honey made him smell sweet, but not too sweet. The cinnamon blended with the honey to make a very warm autumny feeling.  
Tyler, who sat to my left, smelled like cotton candy and lollipops. His scent wasn't overly sweet, hanging around in the air as though it was a candy flavoured mist.  
Chris had a distinct smell, smelling like lavender and rice. The lavender part of him was so nice, I wanted to fall asleep with a mere whiff. The rice was one I didn't expect, but it made for a nice stable part of him to go with his lavender.  
Troye and Phil were a bit harder to tell apart, due to their vicinity to each other, but they had such distinct smells that I could tell a mile away.  
Troye smelled like those candied mints and aloe vera. The mints made for a refreshing smell mixed with a hint of sweet, while the aloe vera brought the mint back so that it wasn't overpowering.  
Phil smelled like apple juice and caramel, them blending together into a single lovely scent of slightly sour with sweet tones.  
Connor smelled like lemon and cumin, having both distinct smells play around with each other. The lemon was mostly sour, but mingled well with the earthy smell of the cumin.  
Dan smelled like chocolate and beetroot. Chocolate was no doubt the stronger of the two, but if you dug deeper, you would find the beetroot inside.  
And Jack smelled like cookies and lettuce. I wasn't sure how the two would get along at first, but when I smelled more, I could smell the lettuce making a fresh contrast to the over powering sweet from the cookies.  
Everyone smelled like heaven, me being able to tell their class from a mere single scent.  
Jack, Chris, PJ, Connor and Tyler were all Beta, their smell being the least strong out of all class types.  
Mark, Dan, Phil and Troye were each Omega, their smell being the most overpowering out of the class types.  
Just as I tried to get myself to calm down, I felt a pair of lips on mine. They didn't remain long, lasting for only a second or two.  
But I could feel the warmth and intensity from it even after they left, leaving me in a state of adrenaline high.  
In fact, I could feel my hormones from my heat start to kick in.  
My eyes opened suddenly, giving Mark a bit of a fright.  
My nose was working in full swing, my hormones starting to begin as well.  
"I'm sorry, my heat accidentally kicked in" I rushed out, scrambling out of my chair and Mark's grip. "I need to go and get my suppressants and take some now"  
I heard a lot of protests, some out of surprise, some out of concern. I ignored them all as I ran around the table and up the stairs to my room.  
I opened the door quickly, shutting it firmly behind me.  
How did this even happen? I had taken my second suppressant today!  
Stupid oversensitive nose and stupid sensitive hormones. I was actually enjoying that game.  
I grabbed the nearest suppressant, gulping it back dry. Once I was satisfied that I had taken it correctly and I could feel it starting to kick in, I moved over to the door, hoping to tell them that I was going to retire for the day.  
I was stopped in my tracks when I heard a knock at my door.  
"Hey Ally, it's Mark"  
He had seemed to fully compose himself, for I could hear no shakiness or fear in his voice.  
"Hey Mark" I responded, deciding not to open my door just in case. "Sorry about that, I didn't plan to run out at that moment"  
"Don't worry, I know you didn't" Mark told me, chuckling softly. "Do you need to head to bed now? I know how much suppressants suck"  
"Yeah, sorry" I told him through my door. "Can you apologize to the others for me?"  
"No need, they can all hear you right now"  
Really?! Shit.  
"I think we all want to thank you for something today, if you have a moment" Mark said, and I heard a whole bunch of shuffling feet outside my door.  
"Hiya! It's Phil" I heard Phil say. "I wanted to thank you for coming with me and Dan down to the garage, I found it quite fun!"  
"Hey, It's Dan" Dan said, not so loud as Phil. "Sorry about being rude to you today, you know, yeah"  
Dan seemed to find it more awkward than Phil, seemingly having difficulty apologizing to me.  
"Jack 'ere" came the accent that I recognized instantly. "Thanks fer saving me and Mark from August, and fer being generally awesome"  
"What's up! Tyler here" came the chipper voice from Tyler. "I wanted to thank you for giving us all a chance to get to know you better"  
"Hey, Troye here" Troye said. "You were really great when you saved us from those bandits"  
"Connor here" Connor said, following immediately after Troye. "Thanks for bringing back all those wooden planks with us and helping us with so much"  
"It's ya boy Chris!" Chris said, sounding the most excited. "That truth or dare game was awesome! It's better than any other we've had"  
I laughed, leaning against the door as I heard the rest.  
"Hi, It's PJ" PJ said. "I honestly think you're really nice and caring, so thanks for being you"  
"And I'll finish I guess, but I don't need to introduce myself" Mark's voice came, him being the final one to speak. "I suppose I just wanted to thank you for trusting us, protecting us and simply staying with us"  
I smiled softly, despite the fact none of them would see it.  
"Thank you guys" I responded, wanting to thank them as much as they had done me. "For looking past the fact I am a Alpha, past the fact I was a stranger and past what I might have done"  
I heard a chorus of "you're welcome", them all being a little jumbled into each other. Despite this, it still felt good and it's meaning got across.  
"Goodnight"  
They all returned the same farewell, all of them starting to move and do the things they had planned.  
I was right. This place was full of nice people.  
I'm so glad I found this place.

(Btw, this chapter was over 4750+ words! Holy shit! That's a new all time record! Heck yeah! :D)


	10. (10) You raise me up

Ally's P.O.V.: (Note to self, don't search up "Sexy Markiplier" with the safe search off. It leads to bad times D:)

I stretched my arms, coming down the stairs to the motel. My plan for the beginning of the day was to make food for as many people as I could, to thank them both for letting me stay and for the truth or dare game last night.  
After all, my former boss did manage to teach me about proper cooking.  
The table had been cleared of the game from the previous night, but that wasn't really what caught my eye.  
Mark was working out near the dining table, a towel being the only thing on his upper body.  
The towel was slung over one of his shoulders haphazardly, the rest of his abs, pecs, biceps and other muscles stood out, drawing my eyes to them.  
His skin glistened with a thin sheen of sweat, making each line and ripple stand out that much more.  
He lifted a heavy weight in his right arm, probably using the one weight for both arms and hands.  
When he lifted it, he would take a deep breath in and hold it. When he lowered it again he would release the deep breath, making sure not to simply let the weight fall.  
He was taking muscle training seriously, despite the fact as an Omega it would be twice as hard as a Beta. Alpha took to muscle training like it was a joke. Most Alpha would simply have difficulty finding a weight that really challenged their muscles.  
Some Alpha would even go out and lift their car or a couple of heavy rocket launchers. It usually didn't do much for us.  
"Good morning" Mark greeted with a grunt, drawing me out of my thoughts.  
"Good morning" I replied, trying to make it seem like I wasn't staring at him the moment before.  
He smirked at me, purposely looking at me while he did another couple of reps.  
I couldn't figure out whether the guy was nervous around me or was just not used to physical contact.  
At one point, he would be flirty and friendly. The next, he would be a frightened lamb that I was afraid of breaking with a mere touch or word.  
"So, why the muscle training?" I asked curiously. "Surely it isn't easy?"  
"It definitely isn't" Mark responded, returning his focus back to the weight. "But I want to protect the guys here, and that goes much easier when you are stronger"  
I nodded, understanding the sentiment very much myself. I felt the same myself for many years, before the incident that ruined it all.  
I moved closer, wanting to see how heavy the weight was. It said that it was about 25 kg.  
"Not bad" I answered. "How does it feel for you?"  
"Like I'm trying to lift a car battery" Mark responded while laughing. "It feels fucking heavy"  
"Can I try?"  
"Go ahead"  
He handed the weight to me, my fingers curling around the bar in the middle. I gave it a few experimental lifts, me easily achieving those.  
"And? How does it feel for you?" Mark asked me curiously.  
"Like I'm lifting a full soda can" I answered while doing more curls.  
"What?! Seriously?!"  
"Yup"  
He looked intensely at my arm while I did a couple more curls, trying to see how my muscles worked. His mouth was open in a state of shock, despite seeing me lift a couple of beams last night.  
"You're strong as heck" Mark said, focusing on my face instead of my arm. "But nobody would guess that when they simply glance at you"  
"I know right? I love the part when they think they can easily take me out and get their ass beat"  
"I'll bet!" Mark said, looking at me with respect in his eyes. "No wonder you could lift Chris so easily yesterday"  
"Yeah, Jack said something about how you guys had tried with him before and failed?"  
"Yup, I had tried to lift him bridal style" Mark said while laughing. "Needless to say, it ended catastrophically"  
I laughed, managing to imagine the scene in my head.  
"Then again, I'm sure you could lift anybody" Mark said, looking at me admiration.  
"I don't know" I said shrugging my shoulders. "I'm sure you could lift me"  
"You think so? How much do you weigh?"  
"About 50 kg"  
"What?! And you can still lift everyone?!"  
"I guess so"  
He looked me up and down, probably trying to judge if he actually could lift me. That, or he was checking me out for other reasons.  
"I noticed the way you lifted up Chris was different than the way I tried it"  
"Oh? How did you try it?"  
"I got Jack to lie on the ground and I tried to pick him up from that"  
"Dude no, that doesn't work well"  
"Yeah, I figured that part out"  
I motioned to myself with my hands, leaving the choice up to Mark whether he would even attempt it.  
"Wanna try?"  
"Lifting you?"  
"Of course, what else would I be talking about?"  
It took me a moment to realize his dirty joke.  
"Geez, you act like you are mature"  
"Haha, sorry, sorry"  
We spent a good couple of seconds simply laughing at the joke. It felt like ages since I felt this happy.  
"I would like to try lifting you, if that's alright" Mark admitted.  
"Alright then, tell me what to do"  
"I'll probably just end up doing what you did"  
"That's fine"  
Like I had done, he placed his left arm under my knee, preparing to lift me. He paused, almost as if he wasn't quite sure he was doing it correctly.  
He looked at me a bit apprehensively, but relaxed when I nodded my head at him that he was doing fine.  
"A-Alright, now lean back" Mark almost said confidently, the only slip up being the beginning of his sentence.  
So, this is either going to land me and Mark into a pile or it's going to be fine. I had to admit, I hadn't been picked up like this in a long time.  
I leaned back, placing my trust in Mark.  
He caught my back with his right arm, holding me tightly. He swung my legs up, him grunting as he did so.  
It took him a moment to re-balance himself, but did so pretty well. Luckily he wasn't really sweaty, otherwise it might have been worse for the both of us.  
For a moment, he simply stood there, as though it hadn't hit him yet that he was holding me correctly.  
"Good job"  
He looked at me, and smiled a almost gleeful smile. He made a laughing noise that sounded like something between a giggle and a squeal. It sounded adorable.  
He twirled around with me on the spot, making the same giggling sound as earlier.  
I felt special, as though I was his bride and he was lifting me up for the first time.  
After a while he stopped twirling, probably cause he would get sick if he kept doing it.  
He looked down at me, smiling brightly. His smile faltered after a while, having difficulty looking me in the eyes.  
"I'm sorry" Mark apologized.  
"For what?" I asked of him.  
"You've probably noticed that I always was nervous when I was touching you before" He admitted, gently rocking me as though I was a baby. "It wasn't because of what happened on the first day or anything like that, it was because you were a Alpha"  
I had suspected as much, but it still felt like a stab to the heart. He did seem honestly sorry.  
"It's a stupid reason to be afraid of someone" Mark said, looking like he was going to cry. "And I wanted to apologize for that"  
He moved over to a nearby chair, trying his best to put me down on it. He missed it a bit, half my butt hanging off the side, but it was close enough.  
When he manged to put me down and was satisfied that I wasn't going to topple off, he moved away from me.  
"Mark?" I asked him before he could go any further.  
"Yes?" Responded Mark, starting to dry off some of his sweat with the towel that he had chucked away earlier.  
"I saw a wanted poster of you yesterday"  
He froze, the towel paused at his neck. He didn't move for a good couple of seconds.  
"What did it look like?"  
"It had a photo of you on it, but not much else" I said, recounting the wanted poster the best I could. "You looked very beaten up in the photo"  
He released a deep sigh, but not in relief. It was the exact opposite, it sounded like it was a sigh of regret.  
"What happened to you that has made you so afraid of Alpha?"  
He finished drying himself off, placing the towel on top of the mostly forgotten weight. He looked around for while, I presumed for a shirt.  
He didn't seem to have brought one, cause he stopped the hunt after a while.  
He then took a seat near me, leaning his arms on the dining table. He didn't look at me, but I could see the moisture start to build up in his eyes.  
"A bandit boss in a well known bandit group decided that he wanted to have a..."servant" "  
"That was you?"  
He nodded his head, his adam's apple bobbing up and down with a nervous swallow.  
"He was a Alpha, and he wasn't a very nice person" Mark said, his voice wavering from time to time. "He did..."  
I didn't push him to answer, horrified with the treatment of Mark. What person would hurt such a nice person?  
That being said, how did he still find the courage to be nice to me? To any Alpha?  
"He did bad things to me"  
Mark couldn't say anything more, covering his mouth and shutting his eyes tightly. I didn't need much imagination to understand what kind of things had been done to him.  
A couple of tears slid down his face, him just quietly sobbing on the chair. I stood up from my chair, moving to him.  
My plan was to hug him and make him feel safe and comfortable. But a part of me was saying in my head that it was a bad idea, that I would freak him out.  
"Do you want me to leave you alone?"  
He shook his head, looking to me with sad eyes. His waterworks were in full effect, causing him to sob loudly.  
"What do you want me to do?"  
He opened his mouth at first, but shut it after a couple of sobs were the only noise. He took a deep breath and tried once more.  
"I-I don't know..."  
"Do you want me to hug you?"  
He nodded his head, more sobs being the only sound to accompany the movement.  
I wrapped my arms around his torso, trying to make him feel as protected as possible.  
I ended up in a weird position, due to the fact I couldn't sit down. My back was bent over while my legs were straight, Mark clinging to me like there was no tomorrow.  
I tried to reposition myself, so as to not destroy my back. Mark must have taken this the wrong way, thinking I was going to leave him. He clung to me even tighter, accidentally pulling me into his lap.  
I wrapped my legs around his waist, focusing more on Mark than the situation.  
He seemed almost like a child, clinging to his mother.  
I simply sat there, for what seemed to be the longest couple of hours of my life, holding the sobbing mess that was Mark.


	11. (11) Bang bang bang

Ally's P.O.V.: (Weird, I didn't have the same problem with Jack like I did with Mark :I)

"Alright, there we go"  
"Hush! You'll wake 'em"  
Jack had woken up just a bit later than me and Mark, seeing the situation that we had gotten stuck in.  
Thankfully, he didn't react like those cliche anime where the person freaks out and starts slapping people like crazy.  
That would have ended badly for Mark. And me, cause I would have slapped him back on reflex.  
Jack simply ended up moving the weight and towel away, and simply remaining quiet in the background.  
Once Mark had gone to sleep in my arms, Jack helped me move him back to his room.  
And by help, I mean he opened the door to Mark's room. I ended up carrying him myself.  
Jack closed the door as quietly as he could, looking at me apprehensively.  
"He told you, didn't he?" Jack asked, concern in his voice. "About the bandit boss"  
"Yeah, he did"  
Jack sighed, crossing his arms over his chest.  
"We all didn't know what to do when he told us" Jack admitted, his blue eyes starting to get moisture as well. "We just kind of hugged him and patted his back"  
"There isn't much you can do in that sort of situation" I admitted, remembering a similar situation in the past.  
"Yeah, I guess yer right"  
I heard a clunk on the ground behind Jack, followed by a hushed swear.  
"Fuckin' thing won't stay put" He grumbled, fiddling with the gun we had received from August.  
"That's cause it isn't a gun you can just place at the back of your pants" I lectured, feeling like I was talking to a young kid. "You put in a gun holster on your hip or chest"  
"I don't 'ave one of those"  
"Why not?"  
"We never 'ad the need for one" Jack said, holding the heavy gun in his hand. " 'sides, doesn't a gun holster stand out?"  
"Holding the gun 24/7 in your hand stands out way more"  
He nodded his head, admitting that I was correct on that stand point.  
"Where are we even supposed to find a gun 'olster?"  
"You can steal one of a nearby bandit or you can buy one"  
Jack pulled a face at both of the suggestions. He looked a bit silly.  
"Both of those sound impossible to us" Jack said. "We 'ave no more money and I don't wanna get in a fight with a bandit"  
"How about I go get one?"  
"No! Everyone would be upset if ya got 'urt!"  
"Dude, I defeated about twenty when I saved Tyler and the others yesterday"  
"None of them 'ad a gun!"  
"I can handle a guy with a gun just fine"  
Jack just looked at me with a disapproving look. He was a very stubborn man, constantly butting heads with me.  
"Dude, I've got a lot of experience with fighting" I said while rolling my eyes at him.  
"Not that you mention it, Tyler did say something like that when you rescued them" Jack said, narrowing his eyes at me. "What did you do as a job before now?"  
"I was a bodyguard for my former boss" I answered truthfully. "I didn't want to tell you guys, cause I thought you would not trust me if I told you that"  
"What company did ya work for?" Jack asked, his blue eyes staring intently at me. "I don't remember you saying the name"  
My breath hitched in my throat.  
Dang it. I was hoping nobody would ask that question.  
"Promise you won't freak out"  
He raised an eyebrow at me, but said nothing in response. I continued to look at him, waiting for him to promise.  
Eventually, he rolled his eyes while sighing.  
"Fine, I promise"  
I took a deep breath in, working up the courage to say the words that haunted most people on this planet. There's no way in hell he isn't going to freak out, despite his promise.  
"Hyperion" (I was gonna write "It's none of your business" but that wouldn't be very realistic XD)  
He didn't say anything. Maybe he didn't hear me. Or it hasn't sunk in yet.  
"WHAT?!"  
It hadn't sunk in.  
"YOU WORKED FER HY-HMPH!"  
I covered his mouth hastily. It wasn't because I was afraid of him shouting out my former work place, but more to ensure he wouldn't wake Mark. We still stood in front of his door after all.  
After a couple of hurried hand signals passed between each other got the message over that we had to go somewhere else.  
We continued our conversation once we got back to the now empty dining room.  
"You worked fer Hyperion?!"  
"Yeah, I'm not really proud of that fact" I admitted sheepishly. "I left once the owner of Hyperion lost his shit"  
"You mean 'andsome jack?"  
"Yeah"  
Jack started to bite his thumb, unsure about the news I had just told him. I kicked myself mentally for thinking it looked sexy.  
"Alotta people 'ere in this motel 'ate that place" Jack said, looking nervously over at the closed doors of the others.  
"I can completely understand why"  
"And you just got most people 'ere to trust ya"  
"I know"  
He removed his thumb from his mouth, seemingly deep in thought.  
"Are ya planning to tell the others?" Jack asked me, his eyes showing his apprehension.  
"If they ask me, I will tell them the truth" I admitted. "But I wasn't sure to just tell them out of the blue"  
"To be 'onest, it probably will be better the earlier you tell 'em" Jack advised me. "If they learn after a couple a months, they're gonna be pissed as all 'ell"  
"Yeah, that makes sense"  
"I suppose that explains why you are 'ere in 'ollow point" Jack said, pieces of the puzzle making more sense to him now. "Ya don't wanna be tracked by those fuckers"  
"Exactly"  
He nodded his head, probably while still being in thought. Unlike what I thought, he actually seemed to be trusting me more now that he understood my motivations better.  
Most people start trusting people less the more things they discover. I guess Jack was a exception to that rule.  
A clang sounded on the floor once more, Jack swearing again as he picked it up. I guess sticking it in the back of his pants is a old habit.  
"Alright, fine" Jack said, throwing his hands up in the air as a sign of giving up. "Let's go get a gun 'olster"  
"Yeah boy"

* * *

Finding a bandit was really easy, one walked up to us the moment we had gone a small bit away from the motel.  
The guy had two holsters on him, one being a pistol holster and the other being a shotgun holster.  
The gun that was given to us by August could only fit in the shotgun holster, which Jack placed on his hips.  
I took the pistol holster, wrapping it around my chest. It would be well hidden once I got my cloak dry and back on.  
" 'Ow in the Jesus fucking Christ am I supposed to 'ide this 'olster?"  
"If you don't have a cloak, then you're just gonna have to intimidate people with it instead" I answered, fixing the belt he had attached it to.  
He grumbled, but didn't say much else. He stayed still and let me fix his belt, which would make sure his pants stopped drooping with the gun attached.  
"How does it feel?"  
"It feels like I 'ave a four year old 'anging onto my pants"  
I laughed at the weird analogy, taking a couple of steps backwards to inspect my handiwork.  
I inspected a bit too well, noticing the small tufts of hair sticking out from above his nether region.  
"Dude, you realise that people can see your pubes, right?"  
He looked down hurriedly, seeing what I was talking about. He started to fix his pants, leaving me to my own thoughts.  
My stupid 18 year old mind started to wonder, looking at the rest of his body as he fixed his clothing.  
He wore a nice dark red shirt that showed off nice shoulder muscles, as well as having nice arm muscles.  
He wasn't extremely buff, but looked like he had been at one point. It all combined to have a nice sleek body while still looking like he could handle himself.  
"Seein' as we are out and about anyway" Jack said, satisfied with the condition of his clothing. "D'ya think ya can teach me to shoot better?"  
"Sure thing" I answered, smiling at the green haired man. "Do you know a spot where we can practice?"  
He nodded his head, grasping my wrist and starting to walk down one of the alleyways nearby. How do these guys not get lost around here?  
I raised my head, seeing the Purple Skag up ahead.  
"We aren't heading to the Purple Skag are we?"  
"Nah, just somewhere nearby there"  
As we walked down the alleyway, both of us noticed a wanted poster pasted up on the wall. That damn bandit boss.  
It was exactly the same as the one I had ripped down the previous day. Mark.  
"Mother fucker" Jack swore to himself, tearing down the poster angrily. "I wish the bastard never existed"  
"I know what you mean"  
Jack understood what I meant once he saw the torn apart poster littered over the alleyway. He nodded in approval towards me, appreciating the comment.  
We didn't say much more, reaching what I assumed to be our destination. It was a mock shooting range, a target looking completely decimated.  
"That target looks buggered"  
"Yeah, I use the old bottles littered 'round the place instead"  
"Just make sure you don't get glass in your eyes"  
"Yes mum"  
We both laughed, a moment of light heartedness washing over the both of us. I gave him a very gentle playful shove, which he returned in kind.  
For a moment, it was just the two of us looking like idiots, constantly shoving the other while giggling like children.  
It felt like a silly moment, but I cherished it nonetheless.  
Once we managed to stop and had stopped giggling like schoolgirls, Jack got out his gun and started to load it.  
"Any tips?"  
"Use both hands, don't lock your elbows, pull the trigger smoothly, and don't forget to-  
"Woah now! I don't need that many!" Jack said while chuckling and making a silly face. "Besides, I think I've 'eard that before"  
I noticed he was having difficulty adjusting to the weight of the gun, his hands shaking as he tried to aim it.  
"Is it heavy?"  
"Is my 'air green?"  
"I'll take that as a yes"  
I moved behind him to support his arms, him flinching at first from the sudden contact. Once he relaxed, I helped hold his arms up to help him focus on aiming.  
Once he was satisfied with his aiming, he clicked the safety off.  
"I see you've learned from being around me" I teased him.  
"Shut up, leave me alone" Jack said, giggling while he spoke.  
I could feel the vibrations through his body, tickling my chest. It felt kind of weird.  
He pulled the trigger smoothly like I told him, him hitting the bottle around the neck of the bottle. Damn, he's a natural.  
"Nice work Casanova" I joked.  
He spun his head around to me, grinning ear to ear.  
He obviously had miscalculated the amount of space between our faces, cause his lips ended up smacking into mine.  
I'm not even sure it counted as a kiss, more like a ghost of one. But I could feel the prickly feel of his mustache and beard against my smooth skin.  
He didn't seem to move, frozen still in that position. The both of us looked at each other, not sure what we were supposed to do.  
Well, I was unsure.  
He seemed to know what he wanted to do.  
His eyes half closed, giving me a gentle look.  
"Ya look really pretty right now"  
"Right now?"  
He sighed, giving a half laughing/half annoyed look.  
"Just shut up fer once"  
He pressed his lips fully against mine, my cheeks heating up like there was no tomorrow. I heard a clunking noise, probably from the gun being placed down.  
He seemed to know more what he was doing than Mark, moving his arms to hold onto mine.  
He twisted his head, making the kiss deepen. I didn't know what else to do, so I simply wrapped my arms around his chest, making me the big spoon in our position.  
Despite the strange angle his head was at, he seemed completely content in my arms.  
When he pulled away, he made a humming noise that sounded like a purr. He looked at me with a sexy smirk, his eyes still half closed and relaxed.  
I made a confused face. What was I supposed to say?! What was I supposed to do?!  
Should I kiss him again? Do I say something about it? No, he told me to shut up earlier.  
Despite being a Alpha, I didn't know shit about how to react in a situation like this.  
He let out a small chuckle, using a available hand to gently stroke my chin.  
" 'Ave I got ya stunned?"  
"That's a way to describe it, yes"  
He chuckled again, looking deep into my eyes. Part of me wanted to avert my eyes, but his intense gaze kept me locked onto him.  
"I love ya, ya silly mess of a woman"  
I laughed, loving the way he had said it. Wait, did he say he loved me?!  
"I don't think I'm good for you" I answered truthfully, letting him go.  
"You're just gonna assume that?"  
"I don't know, I've never been in a relationship"  
His smile softened, taking a gentler tone with me.  
"That's alright" Jack said, moving to pick up the gun. "I'm fine with waiting for ya, take yer time to find out what ya want"  
"That sounds good"


	12. (12) Sweat

Ally's P.O.V.: (Oh god this picture better not get me in trouble D:) (Just to be safe, I'm also gonna leave this warning up here; **SUGGESTIVE THEMES AHEAD! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED** )

I walked around inside the motel, wondering where on earth their towels were kept. I had gotten quite smelly and sweaty over the couple of days that I had stayed with all the others at the motel, and I didn't want to stink up the entire place with my stench.  
"Agh! Come on!"  
Ahead of me, I could see Phil tinkering with something in a closet. He was biting his lip in concentration, looking completely adorable in the process. Goddamn all these guys and their sexy genes.  
"Sup Phil"  
He stuck his head back out, his face gaining a grin when he saw me nearing him. His eyes swum with gentle yet happy emotions  
"Hey, what's up?" asked Phil, his hands still fiddling with something.  
"I was actually going to ask you if you knew where the towels were" I answered, leaning against the wall near to him.  
His smile faltered slightly, not completely losing it. He motioned for me to come and look inside the closet he was working on.  
When I did, I saw a red display attached to a water cylinder. The numbers read out 28 degrees celsius.  
"As you can see, you'll have a bit of difficulty taking a shower now" Phil told me, smacking the water heater lightly in annoyance. "We probably used it all up with hot water for food"  
I grumbled, placing my hands on my hips. My heat was going to finish in one or two days, and I didn't want to regain my sense of smell just to only be able to smell my stench.  
"There is another way to take a shower, right?"  
"Not a shower, but there is a way to take a bath" Phil told me, dashing off to the kitchen nearby.  
When he returned, he held a giant wash basin and a hot water kettle. He better not be suggesting what I think he's suggesting.  
"We should be able to take a bath in this"  
Wait, we?!  
"What do you mean we?" I asked nervously, unsure how to take the situation.  
"Well, I kind of want to take a bath too" Phil said shrugging his shoulders. "And we don't have much time before dinner, so we'd have to, uh, I mean..."  
Only near the end of his sentence did he seem to remember my gender, and how awkward such a situation would be.  
"Sorry, I, um" Phil began, looking nervously down at his feet. "I kinda forgot you're a girl and I'm used to taking a shower at the same time as others to save heat and ohgodI'mscrewingthisupI'msosorryand-  
"Phil, dude, calm down" I said, placing a calm hand onto his shoulder. "I understand now, and it makes sense to take a bath at the same time with other people"  
Phil let out a big sigh, sounding much more relieved than the moment before. He placed the water kettle in the wash basin, and put both inside what I assumed to be the bathroom.  
"You can take a bath, I'll take one later today or tomorrow" Phil told me, looking still apologetic for the moment before.  
"But didn't you want to take one?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'd rather you took one and I take mine later"  
Phil shook his head stubbornly, refusing to listen to my selfish request. His hair swished from side to side as he did so, making me notice the greasy shininess in it. He really needed that shower.  
"I'm serious, take a shower" I said, grumbling to myself. "Your hair is greasy as heck"  
He took a lock of hair, feeling it between his fingers. He pulled a face, letting go of his hair quickly.  
"But what about you? Your hair looks the same"  
I did the same as he had done, and he was correct. My hair was greasy as heck as well.  
The both of us stood there, unsure about how to handle the situation. I had a idea after a while, but it was a bit dodgy.  
"Phil, do you have swimming trunks?"  
"Yeah, how come?"  
"Do you also have a different one that I could wear?"  
It then clicked for him what I was talking about.  
"Ah! You want us to wear the swimsuits while we take the bath together!" Said Phil, smacking his hand into the palm of his other hand, understanding perfectly. "That sounds like a good idea! I'll go get them!"

I nervously twisted the straps of the swimsuit around the correct way, suddenly becoming nervous.  
Real genius idea Ally. Suggest a bath alongside a boy while wearing swimsuits.  
This was gonna go badly.  
I went over to the bathroom, trying to go quickly so that nobody would notice me in the swimsuit.  
When I entered the bathroom, Phil was busy pouring the hot water from the kettle into the washbasin, a warm steam wafting up from the surface of the water.  
When he saw me, his eyes lingered for a bit. He looked me up and down before smiling at me nervously.  
"Nice! It fits pretty well" Phil commented, placing away the kettle.  
"Yeah, it does"  
When Phil stood up, did I see how little he was actually wearing. He was only wearing a pair of swimming trunks in the shape of boxers, his upper half being shown off.  
He seemed to get a bit self conscious when I looked at him, cause he covered up his nipples with his hands while awkwardly laughing to himself. Or wait, was it somewhere lower down on his chest?  
"That basin doesn't look very big" I said, trying to divert my attention away from our awkward situation.  
"Yeah, it's actually supposed to be for one person"  
Great job Ally. You made the situation worse.  
He placed a foot slowly into the basin, getting used to the temperature. He got in fully after getting both feet used to it, sitting down with his knees crossed.  
I mentally kicked myself one more time before I followed him in, sitting with my knee's crossed as well. He still covered his chest, and I didn't fault him again all for doing so.  
Both the fact that Phil had really long legs and the fact the basin was tiny, made it so that my crossed over knees ended up being on top of his knees.  
I awkwardly tried to change my position so that I wouldn't be in that close contact with him. I failed, only making things slightly worse than better.  
"Darn it!" I grumbled, my legs getting cold rather than warm as the rest of me was.  
"Hold on, let me try something" Phil said, moving to try and change his position instead. "I think I can-AHH!"  
When he had tried to shift, he had slipped, grabbing onto the nearest thing for support, which was my shoulders.  
I had shut my eyes tight to try and block out any water or soap getting into my eyes. We splashed unceremoniously around for a bit before we seemed to stop.

Once we had stopped tumbling around, I called out to him.  
"Hey Phil, you okay?"  
"Yeah, I think I'm okay" Phil responded back to me, sounding quite close to me. "I got some soap in my eyes though"  
I rubbed my eyes, hoping to get away any water or soap. Once I was satisfied, I slowly opened my eyes. What I ended up seeing make me freeze.  
Phil had ended up tumbling onto his back, his legs dangling out of the wash basin while his head was half submerged in the water. He was busy rubbing his eyes to get out the soap, making small pain filled whimpers.  
That didn't shock me though. What did shock me was how I had ended up landing on him.  
I had ended up landing on him in a sort of missionary position, my hips connected to his and my elbows on his chest.  
Once he had finished rubbing his eyes, he opened his eyes slowly. He recoiled for a moment, due to my proximity.  
Once he got a good look at our position, did his cheeks start to flush red and his chest start to rise and fall erratically.  
"Are your eyes okay now?"  
He didn't respond, his gentle eyes staring up at me. He seemed like he had been frozen.  
He swallowed nervously before laughing awkwardly at me.  
I got the hint well enough, placing my hands on his shoulders.  
"Sorry about that" I said, preparing to push off his shoulders. "I'll get off you now"  
The movement caused friction between our hips, Phil letting out a small gasp of surprise before he grabbed my arms to stop me from moving.  
I looked over to him, wondering why he had stopped me. I know it was kind of awkward, but he would be better off once I was actually off him.  
I got an indication of why when I felt a bulge had formed in his swim shorts. His eyes were half lidded, his mouth slightly open while panting softly.  
"Phil?"  
I felt his hips shift under me, but I wasn't sure if it was on purpose or not. His breath hitched in his throat, moving one of his hands to cover his mouth with the back of it.  
The movements and sights were taking a toll on me, my nose sparking back into action. I was then taking in wafts of apple sauce with caramel, it sending me into a lust filled daze. He smelled so incredibly good, filling my head with possibilities of how the situation would go.  
He was making small whimpering noises, his eyes focused intensely on me. They almost seemed to be daring me to do something, but I might have been misinterpreting due to my heat.  
I wondered quickly in my mind what I was supposed to do in the situation. Kiss him? Grind my hips?  
I was a complete newbie to this sort of thing, but most people didn't guess that due to my class.  
Before I even could ask him what I was supposed to do, the door to the bathroom opened.  
Shit. I guess I forgot to lock it. Did it even have a lock?  
"Hey Phil, Tyler says that din-WHAT IN THE HELL?!"  
My head twisted sharply to see Dan holding the door for dear life while looking at us in what seemed to be horror.  
He looked like he wasn't sure how he was supposed to take the situation. I didn't blame him really, I had the same clueless look on my face probably.  
Phil placed both of his hands behind his back, trying to quickly sit up and probably stammer out some weird explanation.  
"Ah!~"  
This had obviously ended badly, causing his groin to further rub against mine, causing him to moan out before he had even said anything.  
All Phil did further was cover both his mouth and face as he turned fully red in embarrassment.  
"Okay, I'm gonna go now..." Dan said, pointing down the hall as to indicate where he was going. "I'm gonna come back when less weird shit is going on..."  
Dan took off down the hall, me hearing the thumping of his legs go by. I could hear Phil groan in shame through his hands, refusing to remove them at all.  
"Noo, Dan saw us..." I could hear Phil's muffled wails through his hands still. "Oh god, what am I gonna do?... I'll be the laughing stock of everyone in the motel..."  
So apparently it was more embarrassing to have been found in that situation more than being in that position was.  
Good to know.  
"I don't think Dan would do that"  
Phil removed his hands, looking at me with slightly hopeful eyes.  
"You think so?" Phil asked, rubbing his slightly wet eyes.  
"Yeah, I mean, he would make fun of me probably" I said while shrugging my shoulders. "I can't imagine him making fun of you though"  
Phil nodded his head, agreeing with me on the subject. He seemed to relax a bit more with that thought in mind.  
I had managed to remove myself from Phil's hips without any further issues. Probably because it was me moving instead of him.  
"Sorry about that just now" I stammered awkwardly, rubbing the back of my neck. "That was kinda my fault"  
"No, I think it was probably my fault" Phil said, sitting in a weird position, probably trying to hide his groin. "I certainly didn't help anyway"  
He had returned his hands back to their position before, but not before I noticed something glimmering for a brief second. Strange.  
The both of us sort of left it at that, not mentioning the subject afterwards.  
I guess we both decided that we had gotten clean enough that we had left it at that, both of us returning to our rooms.  
Geez, what am I doing? Embracing one guy while sitting on his lap, getting kissed by another and then having a grind bath fest with one more.  
Ally, you big idiot.


	13. (13) Open your eyes

Ally's P.O.V.:

(Flashback begins)

My cape billowed as me and my boss left the elevator leading to the main part of Helios, The hub of heroism. Who made up the name, I have no clue.  
Everything seemed to be functioning as it always had, loader bots moving crates filled with materials, people clicking away impatiently on their keyboards. The only thing that was out of place was the usual claptrap that was running rampant, angering my boss.  
He gave it a slight kick to the eye when it came nearby to him, earning a small wail from the robot. It fell over, complaining something about extreme pain.  
"Why do those things behave so stupidly? I swear, they annoy me more than the crazy scientists in this place" He grumbled, crossing his arms as he walked.  
"Don't forget, you made them" I responded, placing the claptrap back upright before continuing to follow him like a shadow.  
He didn't turn back to look at me, but I could tell from his mannerisms that he was grinning to himself. He knew the fact quite well, but seemed to enjoy their stupidity at the same time.  
Lately, the stress had been getting to him quite strongly and often let out his frustration in small doses against the robots if they got close enough. Luckily, that seemed to be enough to let off steam.  
I could often tell when he would snap from his kind self to his more violent half, usually when something would drastically go wrong with the company. The longer I spent around him, the more the violent side would be prevalent to the kind side.  
He had never taken it out on me, or any of his direct underlings on the same level as me. But people could irritate him at the worst times and I would have to intervene.  
Speaking of which, one example was bustling her way over to him as I had thought of it.  
"Hello sir! Would you like a coffee?" a woman said, her button shirts obviously undone to show off her cleavage. "I made it myself"  
He looked like he wanted to ignore her, but it would have taken longer than talking to her would have.  
"Sorry tuts, I just had a big lunch" He said, waving her off with his hand and continuing to walk past her.  
Her smile had faltered once he had said so, trudging herself back to whatever desk or station she had been assigned to.  
Why did girls keep trying to flirt with him? It was common knowledge in the company that he had a girlfriend.  
Heck, even some stupid boys in the company would try the same. Just like that weird scientist that tried to hump his leg that one time.  
"Oh my god, how many does that make?" he asked me, sighing while rubbing his metallic face mask in annoyance.  
"It would be 13" I responded, sighing in response to the amount.  
"Today or this week?"  
"Today"  
"Ugh"  
As we continued to get nearer to his elevator, a familiar beeping sound rang out. He picked out his pager from his belt, looking at the message on the screen.  
"Son of a taint"  
"What is it?" I asked, trying to peer over his taller shoulder at the pager.  
"It's those idiots on level 517 again" He complained, placing the pager back onto his belt and swinging around to look at me. "Something about a robot scaring employees"  
"How many times do they call us?" I grumbled, opening the door to the elevator. "8 times a week was their previous record"  
"I dunno" he responded. "This week it's only been 4 times, I think"  
"Want me to go and check it out instead?" I asked, moving one of my hands to my trusty twin shock pistols.  
He grinned at me, his eyes giving off a happy and caring feel to them. I could smell his scent going a bit haywire, probably due to the Omega having their heat this week. It still smelt the same to me, like Pepper and Vanilla.  
"I'd love it if you could" He said, giving me a father figure sort of look. "I know I can trust you to handle those morons and anything weird going on"  
"You know it" I said, flashing a quick smile and wink to him.  
As the elevator he stood in started to boot up and begin working, he flashed me the same smile and wink, accompanied by a fist bump against the glass that stood between us.  
I quickly placed my fist in the same place, the two of us smiling towards each other.  
He disappeared a moment later, leaving me with my fist against the glass.  
"Now, let's hurry up and handle that problem down on level 517"

(End of flashback) (Oh my god I almost wrote out who the former boss was D: It's supposed to be a secret and people are supposed to guess darn it!)

My eyes sprung open, seeing the same wooden ceiling that I had seen for the last couple of days. The dream that I just had was as thought it was reality, mirroring everything that I could remember from that time.  
Any shred of decency from that man was long gone now, holding no concern for anyone except for a rare few.  
So, why? Why was I so sad when I would think of him now? Was it because of the fact he was so kind to everyone so long ago?  
A crashing noise drew me from my thoughts, making me sit up in my bed in anticipation and fright. Everyone should be asleep right now.  
My paranoia won out, making me get out of the warm comfort of the bed and get dressed to go ease my mind about the noise.  
My door opened smoothly, the darkness seeming endless down the corridor.  
The noise from earlier didn't repeat itself, but I did hear further noises originating from the bathroom.  
Maybe someone was sick from the dinner yesterday. I didn't think it was likely, seeing as Tyler had made it and he seemed to be the best chef out of the group of boys here.  
Regardless of whether it was that someone was sick, I didn't want to leave them to their suffering.  
I neared the door to the bathroom, seeing someone stumble around in the dark.  
"Where the heck are they?!" they whispered in a annoyed tone, searching in what I assumed to be a medicine cabinet.  
"Hey, are you alright?"  
They must have gotten a extreme fright from me, them whirling around in fright and tripping over the toilet while shouting some obscenity.  
In the end, they clutched a part of their face while one leg was hanging over the toilet. The rest of them was on the ground, groaning while on their back.  
"Do you want me to turn the lights on?" I asked, unsure how to take their tumble.  
"NO! No don't do that! You'll make it worse!" they nearly shouted at me while making frantic hand movements.  
It? What does he mean by it?  
I shut the door to the bathroom, so that we wouldn't wake any of the others with our talking and movements.  
My eyes started to adjust a bit better to the darkness, seeing that it was Dan who had decided to become a bad ballerina.  
"What are you doing here at this time of night?" I asked, moving over to offer a hand to him.  
I expected a angry retort and him refusing to take my hand, but to my surprise he did the exact opposite. He gratefully took the hand that was offered to him, uttering a small thanks once he was stable on his feet.  
"I was looking for my eye drops" Dan said, moving back over to the medicine cabinet.  
I could now see clearly that the part of his face that he was holding was his right eye in pain.  
"I don't think you'll be able to find them with one eye in the dark, want me to find them for you?" I said, placing a hand on his shoulder.  
He had jumped at the unexpected contact, and I half expected that he would take another tumble. This made me place my other arm to steady him, only to get a annoyed look from him.  
Now he would probably complain about personal space and how he didn't need my help and any reason under the moon.  
He truly looked like he wanted to argue with me, but didn't once I saw him flinch in pain. Some blood started to trickle from behind his hand, causing a crimson line down his cheek.  
"Fine" Dan said hesitantly, sitting on the lid of the toilet seat. "Just hurry up, would you?"  
I opened the medicine cabinet, seeing dozens of medications. No doubt some of these were far beyond their expiry date.  
"What is it called?"  
"Bepotastine" Dan said. "It's the small bottle underneath the paracetamol"  
I found the bottle easily once the instructions were given to me by Dan.  
The bottle said that it was used to alleviate allergic symptoms, but I'm quite certain that bleeding is not a symptom.  
At least, it wasn't a common one anyway.  
"How many drops do you need?" I asked, taking the lid off the bottle.  
"Just one if it clears up quickly" Dan said, accompanied with a occasional grunt in pain. "Two if it doesn't"  
I gave the small bottle experimental squeezes, seeing the fluid move around inside. I took a step nearer to him, leaning over.  
"Alright, now just move your hand"  
He grumbled, but hesitantly moved the hand away from his face.  
When he opened his eye to look at me, I was given a small shock.  
The pupil and iris of his eye seemed to glow purple, while the white part of his eye had turned a pitch black. The eye seemed to bleed quite profusely, the drops sliding down the side of his face.  
"Are you gonna hurry up and do them, or what?!"  
His voice reminded me why I was there in the first place, moving to hold the bottom lid of his eye.  
I dropped a single drop into the center of his eye, receiving a weird hissing noise from his eye.  
He clutched the eye in even more pain, him making a hissing noise as well as lifting his head up into it's normal position.  
"Son of a bitch!" Dan growled, almost bending over enough to curl into a ball. "Why does it always sting so bad?!"  
I reached out to a nearby towel and offered it to him. It took him a moment to even realise that I had offered it to him. However, he took it once he noticed it.  
He pressed it to the injured eye, a slightly relieved sigh escaping from his lips.  
Once the pain had died down for him, did he look at me from the corner of his good eye.  
"Don't mention this to Phil" Dan said, his voice becoming quite low with a almost menacing tone to it.  
"You don't think Phil deserves to know?"  
"Phil has enough to worry about in the world" Dan said, moving to stand up from the toilet. "He might come across as a innocent happy go lucky guy, but he worries about everything due to the fact he feels he has to"  
"Because he's the oldest?"  
Dan nodded his head, gingerly removing the now bloody towel from his eye. He grimaced once he saw the amount of blood on it.  
"How's it look?" Dan asked, turning his head back to me.  
He opened the eye slowly, and I peered closer to inspect it. The bleeding had stopped, only having the semi dried blood around it.  
The pupil and iris had returned to normal, but some of the rest was still pitch black. It had a weird dalmatian look to it.  
"Some of it is still black" I told him. "But it's mostly gone now"  
"Thank god" Dan said, sighing in full relief.  
He began to dab (Not that kind of dab!) at his eye with the bloody towel, but was missing most of the spots and just smearing the blood all around his eye.  
I sighed before moving closer to him and holding out my hand for the towel.  
"Hand it here, you'll end up giving yourself smoky eyes with blood instead of makeup at this rate" I mentioned, still holding out my hand for the towel.  
Dan seemed like he was unsure which he wanted to do at that comment. Part of him seemed to want to laugh, the other half to argue.  
In the end, laughing won out. He uttered a small chuckle, before handing the towel over. The smile he made at the same time looked warm and comfortable, making me giddy and excited.  
I guess the saying was true.  
Some people don't smile often. When they do smile, It's like they are trusting you so much.  
I started to wipe away the blood as gently as I could, but with enough force that it would actually come off.  
"I think you might be better off taking a bath" I commented, absent minded.  
"Sure, and have some kind of weird things happening like with you and Phil" Dan said rolling his eyes.  
He hadn't lost the smile on his face, so I was hoping he was making the joke in full jest.  
"I assumed that you would have told one of us off by now" I admitted, rubbing a bit firmer against his eye. The blood didn't have time to dry, so I was getting quite a bit of progress.  
"Why? You're both old enough to know what you guys are doing" Dan said with a matter of fact tone.  
"So, you don't hate me because I'm a Alpha?"  
"Oh god no" Dan said, angling his head to help me reach some of the blood. "I didn't like you cause you seemed to be dodgy at first"  
"Oh, that does make sense"  
"You're still kinda dodgy" Dan said, a joking attitude in his voice. I almost would have taken him seriously if it weren't for the tone of voice and the smirk played on his lips.  
"Gee, thanks" I joked back, sending a smirk of my own his way.  
I moved the towel away, inspecting my work. The blood was fully gone and once he opened his eye, I noticed that it was back to normal as well.  
"Nice, you're almost beauty pageant material"  
"Ha, what do you mean almost?"  
"Lose the resting bitch face and you might get there"  
The both of us laughed, me giving Dan a gentle shove which caused him to grab onto my shoulders for support.  
His laughter died down first, his gaze switching between my lips and my eyes.  
When my laughter had died down as well, did I notice his ever wary gaze at me.  
"What's up?" I asked, my tone becoming worried. Did I upset him in some way?  
"Can I try something?" he asked, his full attention now on my eyes.  
"Depends" I answered truthfully. "If it will hurt me, I'd rather not"  
He chuckled, seemingly understanding where I was coming from.  
"It won't hurt" Dan said, giving me his most confident look. Mind you, it didn't look that confident.  
"Alright, then go ahead" I said, having a small inkling over what he was going to try.  
I expected him to move slowly, but he moved quickly, placing a small kiss on the tip of my nose.  
The contact felt like someone had pressed something wet against it, but my hormones made it feel like it was amazing.  
I giggled, probably sounding like a giddy child. He smiled softly at me, his eye lids closing ever so slightly to have half lidded eyes at me. Geez, all the boys here know how to give sexy looks.  
"You liked that?" Dan asked, his voice coming out low and sultry.  
I couldn't say anything, but I nodded my head slowly, still acting like a child. I felt like a kid in a candy shop, the same excited feeling I had felt with all the other kisses and contacts with the men in this place.  
He took my nodding quite nicely, humming to himself while grinning wider at me.  
He acted quickly again, kissing me a bit more forceful at one corner of my lips. He noticed a cheek of mine flaring up at the contact, but made no move to kiss me again.  
"If you want something more, you'll have to ask for it" Dan spoke softly, his voice sounding deep and alluring to my ears.  
"But that's embarrassing"  
It seemed to take all his willpower to not laugh directly in my face from that comment. He really looked like he was going to keel over and laugh for a good couple of minutes.  
"Oh my god, you're a newbie at this"  
"I know, I'm so confused"  
The both of us laughed, the atmosphere completely disappearing from before.  
"Fine then, I'll let you off the hook this once" Dan said, seemingly fitting back into the role. "Don't say I haven't done anything for you"  
And with that, he stopped teasing or messing around. He full blown kissed me, and I could feel his smile as he did so.  
I wrapped my arms around his shoulder, pulling him into a embrace I had felt with very few people.  
For a long while, at possibly the middle of the night, we just held the each other. Locked through our lips and arms.


	14. (14) I whip my hair back and forth

Ally's P.O.V.:

I yawn, stretching my arms as I walk out of my room. I wore my normal clothes that I was so used to, only really missing my burnt up cloak.  
Connor had promised that we would go and buy another cloak somewhere today, and I was much happier in the familiar slightly figure hugging outfit.  
Light blue jumper, black shirt underneath. Grey and black leggings that clung nicely to my body and had plenty of movement. Much different to Dan's jeans who I had to borrow the last two days.  
And of course, my black boots that thudded on the wooden floor underneath. Most people would find it annoying and loud, but it was familiar and rhythmic to me. I loved it all.  
I was doing weird twirls in front of my door, simply loving the feel of it all, when I heard a door nearby open.  
I looked over, seeing the familiar face of Mark. He didn't have his glasses on, and his hair wasn't neatly brushed or styled.  
However, he didn't look sad or somber. When he noticed me, he sent me a gentle smile. An appreciative one.  
I didn't even know if he had come to terms with what had happened to him. But he trusted some Alpha, and he was sort of able to talk about it.  
He was also able to cry, which is important. Men shouldn't have to hide their feelings simply because it's considered 'unmanly' by society. Screw society.  
"Good morning Mark" I greeted, raising my hand in a quick greeting.  
"Morning" Mark returned the greeting, moving to give me a hug. "Thanks for yesterday"  
I smiled, moving my hands to reciprocate the hug he had given me. I gently patted his back, him letting out a hum in appreciation when I did.  
When he let go of me, he gave a puzzled look.  
"Do you wear perfume?" He asked, sniffing the air slightly. "It's a nice smell"  
"No, I simply stopped taking my suppressants" I answered, twirling my hair as I did so. "I am quite certain my heat was done"  
His face flushed a shade of red, embarrassed with how the conversation turned.  
"Oh" Mark said, looking unsure how he was supposed to respond to the statement. "Well-thats- Hey! Breakfast!"  
He dashed past me, heading down the stairs. I chuckled, deciding to follow him in that direction.  
"Oh! Yer up" I heard Jack say to Mark. "I was gonna wake ya and Ally, but ye seem awake enough"  
"Ally's already awake" Mark responded.  
"Ah, good"  
Jack's head turned to me when I started to head down the steps. My boots aren't known for their sneaking after all.  
Jack smirked at me, flashing a wink while making a whistling noise.  
"Nice outfit" Jack said, leaning against the railing to the stairs confidently.  
"Thanks" I said, laughing while giving him a playful smack on the shoulder. "It's my normal outfit, I showed up here with this on"  
"Really? I guess I'll have to pay more attention to ya" Jack said, returning the playful smack to the shoulder.  
The both of us walked into the dining room, seeing all the rest of the ten gathered there.  
Unlike the usual cook Tyler; Dan and Phil were cooking in the kitchen.  
Phil was busy trying to flip a pancake in a pan, while Dan was cleaning up around him.  
"Good morning sleeping beauty" Dan said when he noticed me walking in, smirking all the while. "Get enough sleep?"  
Jack looked confused between the two of us, but shrugged his shoulders after a couple of seconds.  
I lightly jabbed Dan in the arm, and he raised his arms in mock defeat. He laughed for a while with me but got called over to help by Phil, who was still having difficulty to flip the pancakes.  
I waved over to the rest of our group, who all sat at the nearby table.  
"Morning Ally!" Chris greeted, a warm smile on his face. "You planning on kicking people's butts today?"  
"I don't know" I answered truthfully, shrugging my shoulders. "Depends on what we are doing today"  
Chris pouted slightly, upset at the answer. Him, PJ, Dan and Phil were the only ones who didn't know my fighting prowess, and I was guessing that he wanted to see it with his own eyes.  
"I know this might sound weird" Tyler said, sitting up more straight in his chair. "But, can I style your hair?"  
"Why Tyler? Cause you ran out of people who wanted their hair to be styled?" Teased Connor lightly, laughing from were he sat.  
"Shush! I was a great stylist and you all know it!" Tyler huffed in a joking manner, crossing his arms childishly over his chest. "Besides, I haven't styled long hair"  
I looked over everyone, seeing that everyone except for PJ and Chris had their styled in a specific way. I had to admit, the hair styles complemented the men well.  
"Why not" I said, making Tyler happy and giddy with the prospective idea.  
"Coming through!" Both Dan and Phil called, bustling past us.  
They placed all the plates down on the table, giving each other a high five once their hands were free.  
"Can't you guys just take the plates two at a time?" Troye asked, giving them a silly look.  
"That's for losers!" Dan said, triumphantly placing his hand on the table. "Now eat! We didn't make these just so you guys could let them get cold"  
Phil laughed, then looked over at me slyly.  
"Haven't you heard the saying?"  
"Which one?"  
"To kiss the cook"  
"PHIL LESTER! You sit down and eat too!" Dan interrupted the both of us, yanking Phil into a nearby seat. I wasn't sure if Dan was upset at Phil's comment, or he simply wanted everyone to eat.  
Either way, I was giddy and excited for the day's events.

* * *

"Alright, now just lean back"  
Tyler had made up the best kind of styling chair that he could, using two chairs and simply having my head in his lap. It was warm and cushy, not like the muscly version of my former boss. He was completely relaxed, running a brush through my hair.  
I could smell his scent, the sweet scent being like a constant perfume that surrounded him.  
"So, do you have any specific plans for later today?" asked Tyler, who occasionally would change directions with the hair brush.  
"Well, Connor said we could go and get another cloak" I answered. "I don't know about the rest"  
Tyler chuckled, and I could feel the way it made his body move.  
"Man, if only I was as popular with men as you were" He laughed to himself, busying himself with a kind of conditioner.  
Wait a moment.  
"Tyler, are you gay?"  
"I'm very happy, yes"  
I sent him a deadpan look, earning a laugh accompanied with a grin on his face.  
"Yes, I am into men" Tyler answered truthfully. "Not all men mind you, but men do interest me romantically"  
"Neat" I responded, smiling up at him. "I thought that I was the only one"  
His brush paused for a brief moment, not in anger. It seemed to be a mild form of shock.  
"Oh, the boys are going to be upset when they hear that" Tyler said, laughing nervously to himself.  
"Oh! Oh no! I'm not fully gay!" I said quickly, understanding the confusion. "I meant to say that I am Bisexual, not that I am into women only"  
"Oh, alright" Tyler said, nodding his head slowly with the new information. "You are so brave"  
"How so?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.  
"Most Bisexuals are not viewed nicely by a lot of people" Tyler said, putting the brush down and running some kind of lotion through my hair. "A lot of religious people see it as wrong, and some gays see it as someone being on the fence rather than being open"  
"Oh" I said, thinking about whether people at Hyperion had such a reaction. No, I couldn't remember anyone having that reaction.  
Then again, it would have gone badly if they had started to be rude to the bodyguard of one of the most important people in Helios.  
"What about you?" I asked, tilting my head slightly to look better at him. "What's your opinion on Bi people?"  
"Oh Hun, it doesn't matter to me who they're into" Tyler said, gently tilting my head back to where it was earlier. "If they're nice and polite, then I'll love them all the same"  
I felt so much happier with that response, relaxing even more in his grip. I could feel him start to do something with a curling iron, but left it all up to him.  
"Is there anyone else here who is Bi? Or gay?" I asked curiously, thinking about the men in the motel. If any of the men I had a crush on were gay, I would know to leave them well alone in romantic terms.  
"Connor and Troye are also gay, don't think the rest are anything but straight" Tyler said, sometimes twisting my hair a particular way. "Why? Are you interested in them?"  
"If they aren't into women, then I won't make any moves on them" I answered his question. "That's just not right"  
"I agree" Tyler said. "I've seen some assholes try to hit on lesbian women"  
"Yeah, those guys are rude as all hell" I agreed. I saw Tyler nodding his head, my head still craned in his lap.  
"Alright, it should be done now" Tyler said, placing his hands on his hips triumphantly. "Sit up, you should be able to see it now"  
I sat up as he said, and I saw my hair bob up and down gently. He had styled my hair into one giant curl, draping over my right shoulder onto my chest. It looked quite adorable in my opinion.  
"So, are you into any of the men here? Just curious" I said, fiddling with the hair that he had made.  
He made a adorable noise that was a mix between a giggle and a chuckle, covering his mouth as a light red shade started to colour his cheeks.  
"I used to think that Dan was pretty cute, til I learnt he was into girls" Tyler said, awkwardly rubbing has hands through his hair. "How about you? Who do you find cute?"  
"I dunno" I said, shyly shrugging my shoulders to the question. "I find them all cute"  
"Oh my god! That is so adorable!"  
"Shut up! You're adorable!"  
"Hun, please" Tyler said, giving me a mock stern look. "Nobody is cuter than you"  
"You wish" I laughed which earning a chuckle from him in return, and I happily sighed afterwards. "I'm glad I came here"  
"Me too Hun" Tyler said, placing his hands on my shoulders like a mother would. "Me too"


	15. (15) Lips of an angel

Troye's P.O.V.:

"Argh! Come on!"  
I raised my head from my notepad, the slightly unfamiliar voice distracting me from my song writing.  
I recognized it as Ally's immediately, mixed with a bit of echo mixed into it. She was most likely in the bathroom across the hallway.  
I wonder what she was doing in there? I remember hearing her say to Mark that her heat was finished, so she couldn't be looking for more suppressants.  
Both out of curiosity and concern for her well being, I placed my notepad away and made plans to head to the bathroom.  
When I opened the door to my room, I saw Tyler enter his room. His hands were full of his styling tools, a satisfied smile on his face.  
I don't think he saw me, but I wasn't too concerned with that at the moment. I was more concerned with the increasing sounds of frustration coming from the tile bathroom.  
The door to the bathroom was partially open, and I could see a part of Ally fumbling with something on her left hand.  
I could smell her, for the first time clearly after all the time she had stayed at our place. She smelled like scented candles, quite a peaceful scent despite her class.  
I slowly opened the door, her hearing my footsteps. She swung slightly over to see me, a apologetic smile forming on her face. Her hair swung along with her, causing it to get in the way of one of her eyes. After fixing it with her available hand, she looked at me once again.  
Her hair looked quite pretty, all of it being styled into one giant curl which hung over a shoulder. It did look pretty, but I personally thought her earlier style of having wild and free locks suited her better.  
Tyler did a good job, regardless.  
"Sorry, did I disturb you with my yelling?" she asked, still busy with the item. "I'll try to keep it down"  
"You didn't really disturb me" I said shrugging my shoulders. "I was just wondering what you would need in the bathroom"  
She held out the item in her hand, it being a bandage. I assumed it to be for her cut that she got when she had saved me, Tyler and Connor a couple of days ago. I didn't know of a single person who could bandage themselves with only one hand.  
"I wanted to change the bandage on my hand" Ally said, tilting her head at the bandage as she spoke. "But as you could hear, I'm not used to having only one hand to bandage"  
I was right. I nodded my head, as a way to acknowledge that I had heard her.  
"Want me to help you?" I asked, holding out my hand as a way to take the bandage.  
Her smile grew wider, and she nodded while placing the bandage into my waiting hand.  
She sat down on the only available seat, which ended up being the lid of the toilet. I kneeled near her, and motioned for her hand, which she obliged.  
She had successfully managed to take off the previous bandage, the glaringly red cut staring out at both me and her.  
"You're lucky it didn't get infected" I said, peering closer. "Does it hurt at all?"  
"Only when I try to use my left hand" She answered, looking at it like it was an annoyance. "I hope it heals soon, it messes with aiming guns and lifting things"  
I gave the cut a precautionary poke, her hand contracting in pain and a slight change in her facial expression.  
I looked up at her afterwards, but she wasn't looking at me. She was still looking at the deep cut on her hand, a miffed look on her face.  
Could I trust her with my power? Nearly everyone else in the building seems to be getting along with her.  
If she was going to be helping us, a injury to her left hand would impede greatly to that. But if she ended up being someone dangerous after all, then maybe it would get everyone up shit creek without a paddle.  
"Troye? Is everything okay?"  
Screw it, better to trust her and to possibly lose my own life rather than anyone else getting hurt later on.  
"Yeah, I think I have a better idea to help your hand"  
"Really? What is it?"  
I pressed a finger to my lips, hushing her. I needed silence for this to work.  
We spent a couple of minutes simply staying there, waiting for any traces of noise to completely disappear. She gave a confused look the entire time, but respected my request of silence.  
"Now I lay thee down to sleep~"  
Ally's eyes widened as she noticed my eyes and lips glowed a light blue colour. Luckily, she didn't say anything. She just stared in shock as I continued to sing.  
"I recommend thyself to their care~"  
The glowing grew brighter, and I gently held her hand close to me. She seemed too flabbergasted to actually say anything, just stared in awe at me.  
"When thee awake, I give thee to their care~"  
I gently kissed the palm of her hand, feeling her hand flinch slightly at the contact. The cut glowed the same light blue colour of my lips, it extending out to her fingertips and her wrist.  
The cut gently hissed for a second, before it started to heal itself at a fast rate.  
Within five seconds, it was completely healed. She pulled her hand out of my grasp, staring at the place where the cut was a moment before.  
"Holy shit" She breathed, giving her own hand a little poke to make sure.  
"Yup" I responded, looking at her face to detect any possible changes.  
Now, she either was going to freak out or she was going to be like one of those scientists. Either way, she probably was never gonna shut up about this.  
"Wow"  
Here it comes. The never ending talking about it.  
"Your singing is awesome"  
What?!  
"Excuse me?" I asked, confused as to how that was the first sentence out of her mouth.  
"The song you sang" Ally said, raising her eyes to me with a kind smile on her lips. "You sang it perfectly"  
"Really?! I sing a magical song that heals your hand and you are praising my singing ability?!"  
She shrugged her shoulders in response to the question, looking at me with a calm, yet warm smile playing on her lips.  
"I've had friends who had a name that sounded like something similar" Ally said, sounding like she was busy telling a tale to me. "One of them was a girl named Janine Watson and she absolutely hated Sherlock references"  
"So, in a weird way, you hate stating or talking about the obvious" I said, earning a nod to signify I was correct.  
I sat there, not sure how I was supposed to take that.  
"So, how'd you get that ability?"  
"It's a stupid reason"  
"Humor me"  
I sighed, rolling my eyes dramatically and slowly. There was no way in hell she was going to believe this. Then again, she didn't make the obvious answer to my powers, so maybe not.  
"I got baptised in eridium tainted water"  
"Shit, I can't imagine how painful that must have been"  
"Yeah, it was pretty bad" I said, laughing curtly. "I apparently nearly drowned in the stupid stuff"  
She laughed a bit, but stopped doing so when I raised a eyebrow cockily at her. She found it hilarious apparently, cause she burst into laughter a moment later.  
Despite my best efforts to keep my cool, I ended up joining her.  
"Luckily it didn't change who you are fundamentally" She said, testing out her newly healed hand. Clenching it and stretching it.  
"What makes you say that?" I asked, standing up and dusting my pants off. "For all you know, I could have been a douche bag before that"  
"I don't think a child can change from a asshole into a person simply from a baptism" She responded, taking the nearly forgotten bandage from my hand. "Thanks for helping me, regardless of how bad my first impression was"  
"No problem, as long as you do the same in kind to the rest of us"  
"You betcha"


	16. (16) Running man

Ally's P.O.V.: (Why you all gotta be so cute darn it! D: Especially all the gay ones!)

"Alright, you all set? I don't want to have to run all the way back here cause we forgot a wallet or something stupid like that"  
"But I can't forget the wallet"  
"Why do you say that?"  
"Cause you have the wallet"  
"Oh"  
We both laughed at that, Connor standing up from tying his shoes. We had finally gotten around to going out to get a new cloak for myself, everyone else having a task to do or being busy with something or other.  
I remembered hearing Jack mumbling something about his heat possibly starting. Which was weird, seeing as I had just finished mine.  
Which could only mean that Jack's heat was out of sync. Which could be a result of taking suppressants, but stopping part way through.  
He would have had to consistently do so. Almost as though he kept trying, despite the fact he should have known that he couldn't handle it.  
I sighed, but left the thing up to him. He was a grown man, and he would know what was right for him.  
"So, with Mark and you are the ones we have to rely on for fighting" Connor began, gently jogging up and down on the spot. "We should really avoid fights, eh?"  
"Nah, let's wreck some shit" I joked, putting up my fists in a mock way.  
"Haha! No, really, we shouldn't do that" Despite the fact that Connor had said that in a serious tone, he still kind of giggled while he said so.  
"You think Mark will be fine to protect everyone else back to at the motel?" I asked, kicking my boots experimentally.  
"Yeah, I think so" Connor said, looking back at the closed door of the motel. "Mark is pretty strong for a Omega plus he's incredibly smart, so I think we can trust him to keep everyone else safe"  
I agreed, nodding my head as a small smile crept onto my face. People were still so positive here, despite the circumstances. I was amazed every time I looked at them.  
"So, we ready to go?"  
"Yeah, sounds good"  
We both jogged on the spot for a moment, warming our legs up. Once Connor started off, I followed along a half stride behind him. I didn't know where I was going after all.  
Connor had told me himself what his talent was, it being that he could run fast and for long distances easily. I was amazed with seeing it in action, his muscles moving and rippling with every movement. I was even having a bit of difficulty keeping up with him.  
"Just let me know if you need me to slow down"  
Jesus, it's like he could read my mind.  
That would be scary if he could, he would find endless amount of dirty thoughts. Most of them being about his roommates. Shit.  
Not to mention my former boss.  
I was brought out of my thoughts when I smacked into the back of Connor, nearly knocking the both of us over to the ground. It didn't help that I got a entire noseful of his scent up my nose.  
Lemons and cumin. He hadn't started on his heat yet, I could tell at a mere sniff. (That is the weirdest sentence! XD)  
He whirled around, looking at me with a concerned look on his face. I hoped it was the fact I had banged into him rather than the fact I clutched my nose like it was bleeding.  
"Sorry! I couldn't hear you, so I thought maybe you were a long way away from me" Connor hastily apologized, glancing at my hands clutched around my nose. "You okay? Is it bleeding?"  
"Yeah, I'm fine" I said, waving away his concerns with the back of my hand. "I just got a bit much of a smell"  
He breathed a sigh of relief, placing a hand on his chest as he did so. Despite my weird response, he seemed genuinely happy that I was fine. Man, these guys are all angels.  
"Alright, shall we continue?"  
"Sounds good"  
As we started to jog along again, I tried to keep up with him to try and avoid another incident like earlier. As much as these guys smell nice, doesn't mean I wanna drown in their scents, thanks.  
"So, what colour would you want your cape to be?"  
"Probably a dark blue or black" I answered, looking over to him as we jogged. "I love those colours, and it works well for intimidation and camouflage"  
"I dunno" Connor joked, shrugging his shoulders. "I'd probably get a pink cape if I was you"  
I snorted, which turned into laughter and I shook my head good naturedly at his joke.  
"Yeah, sure" I joked in response to his. "Someday I'll wear a pink cape just for you"  
"Yeah girl! Do it! I will literally pay you money to do so!"  
"You better! Pink will be the worst colour to charge into battle with!"  
"You never know! It could be a big strategic advantage!"  
"Sure, I'll be able to kick their asses while they're trying to hold onto their sides"  
"Yeah! That's the spirit!"  
"Oh my god, do you even understand sarcasm?"  
He grinned a cheesy grin at me, making a heart out of his hands while gently poking a tongue out at me.  
"Love you"  
"Yeah yeah, love you too"  
Ahead of us, the market wasn't fully set up. Despite that fact, one or two stalls already sprouted around the place.  
One seemed to be a guy selling broken bits of cabbage, which was probably caused by me a couple of days ago.  
The other was still the guy who was selling clothing and also the one had turned tail and ran away the moment those bandits had shown up.  
"Hey there!" I said waving at the shopkeeper as the both of us neared the stall. "Do you happen to have any cloaks for sale? Preferably ones with a hood"  
He was busy shining a piece of metal, so he got a bit of a surprise when I had spoken to him. He seemed like he wanted to run for the hills at the sight of me.  
I looked over to Connor, shrugging my shoulders at him with the response. I had never really had people who were afraid of me before, so it came as a bit of a shock.  
"Is the stall not open yet?" Connor asked, looking around the stall. Possibly for sign to come back later.  
The shopkeeper still didn't say anything, seemingly searching for something underneath the counter.  
"You better not be looking for a gun right now" I warned him, placing a hand on the stall. He froze, looking at me with fear filled eyes. "I don't really like the idea of getting shot at today"  
His hand retreated from the counter, and I simply accepted the fact that he probably didn't like the fact I was a Alpha.  
"So, let's try this civil conversation again, shall we?" I half joked with the man. "Do you have any cloaks?"  
"Yus, but they be not good"  
"How come?" Connor asked, raising an eyebrow at him.  
"They ar no gud against zappy or flame stuff"  
Connor looked over to me, still confused with the description from the man. No doubt Connor had no interaction with people who sucked at English before.  
"He says that if I were to get shot with any sort of elemental weapon, it would probably catch on fire or get corroded or transfer the shock and things like that" I said, while shrugging my shoulders after I was done. "But that doesn't really matter to me, I wouldn't keep the cloak on if someone had a elemental weapon anyway"  
"Alright, so it'll be good enough" Connor said, connecting the dots for himself. "How much is it?"  
"A thusund"  
"What?! That's daylight robbery!"  
"Nuh"  
"Dude, you said yourself that they suck!"  
"Yuh"  
"And you're still selling it for that price?!"  
"Yus"  
I sighed and rolled my eyes, the shopkeep was beginning to get on my nerves.  
"Dude, I pretty much saved your stall two days ago" I said while narrowing my eyes at him. "Don't you think that's a bit ridiculous to ask that much?"  
He shrugged his shoulders at me, and I felt the overwhelming urge to flip his entire stall. I probably could, but it would no doubt be the immature thing to do.  
Connor slammed the wad of cash that he had with him on the table, nearly scaring me along with the stall owner.  
He didn't say a word, just looked at the man patiently. I did recognize it as a way to haggle with people, but it usually worked on people who were less smart or less confident in themselves.  
I looked between the both of them, seeing that they both looked quite annoyed with the other.  
A minute later, the shop keeper finally accepted the money on the counter, picking it up and counting as he flung a random cape at me.  
It was a pitch black cape, so I guess Connor's dream of a pink cape would have to happen another day.  
As the both of us walked away from the stall without a word, I glanced over to Connor with a slightly confused look.  
"How did you know that would work?"  
"I didn't" Connor answered while shrugging his shoulders. "Sometime that trick works around here, sometimes it doesn't"  
"Huh, I guess so" I said, tying the cape around my neck and shoulders the way I did with my old one. "How much did you even put on the counter?"  
"About a hundred"  
"Pssh, this cape isn't even worth twenty"  
"Oh well, it'll do for now, won't it?"  
"Yeah, guess so"  
"Alright, let's head back to the motel" Connor said, looking around the corner of the alleyway that we had just walked out of. "I don't really like the idea of being out and about too long, regardless of who I'm with"  
"Hear hear to that" I agreed, turning in the general direction of the motel. "This town might be good for some reasons, but safety is not one of them"  
"Yeah, we can agree on that"


	17. (17) Paint it black

Ally's P.O.V.:

(Flashback begins)

"Level 517, left tower"  
The ding from the elevator sounded, the same monotone voice of a woman once again announcing which floor I was on.  
If I remember it correctly, it wasn't even a prerecorded voice. It was a woman they literally hired to simply sound out what floor it was for this specific elevator.  
Me and my boss had tried to get rid of that stupid rule, but enough people got lost and/or maimed due to being on the more dangerous levels, that we had little choice but to rehire the same people to voice out instructions and the floors.  
I swear, some of these people would be so stupid that they would open a hatch to let in some air despite the fact we would be in space. Lost some of our best scientists that way.  
We were either stuck with stupid morons that you had to babysit 24/7 or we would have crazy insane people like that weird Nakayama guy. In fact, the level I was going to was the one that he had been transferred to due to complaints on his previous level. Mostly about accosting people to try his weird inventions and shouting at others for when trivial things went wrong. It didn't help that my boss and I disliked him about his weird obsession with my boss.  
As I walked out of the elevator, I saw someone grumbling on their communicator.  
"What do you mean Jack can't come down?! We paged for him specifically!"  
I growled, recognising both his voice and his mannerisms with his failing hair implants. His scent stood out like a sore thumb, the smell of onions and meat aggravating my nose and eyes.  
Everyone knew he splashed on fake scent, probably cause he would be too embarrassed for people to know that he was actually a Omega that smelled like Fennel and gumdrops.  
"Vasquez, what have we told you about fake scents?" I growled, causing him to whip around in a frightened manner. He nearly scowled at the sight of me, but decided against it at the last second.  
"What do you mean fake scents? This is my natural-  
"No it isn't" I said, giving him a shove with my shoulder to move him out of my way. "Now why the hell did you get me to come down here anyway?"  
"Why hasn't Jack come?"  
"He asked me to instead" I responded curtly, hoping it would quell his annoying attitude. "Now, will you finally tell me why you decided to page for someone higher up?!"  
As he blurted out someone inane reason, I noticed that somewhere on the top of his head, someone had stuck a dollar on the bits where his hair implants were.  
I nearly laughed out loud, knowing immediately that it must have been my boss who put it there. How long ago had it been stuck there? His coworkers must have not told him at all about it.  
"Hey, Vasquez" I said, pointing to the dome of his head. "If you're not careful, my boss is going to make your head full of money instead of hair"  
He stopped trying to explain his stupid reasons and started to instead search atop his head for the piece of money.  
Vasquez was another one of those weird ones, taking pride whenever he was humiliated or shoved around by my boss. I assumed he was a masochist, due to the fact I couldn't imagine anything else being the reason for his happiness to those situations.  
I didn't stick around with Vasquez, moving over to where the majority of workers seemed to huddle in the corner.  
Most of them seemed to busy with being scared stiff of a robot that was scribbling something onto a piece of paper, so I moved over to a smaller group that was busy shouting obscene things to a balding scientist.  
The balding scientist was no doubt Nakayama, a audible groan from me bringing the groups attention in my direction.  
The only woman of the group seemed relieved once she saw me, knowing that I wouldn't mess about and actually fix what was going on. Her dreadlocks were neatly combed back into a style, giving her some individuality from all the other woman but still looking professional enough to actually work around us. Her pure chocolate scent was a little overbearing for a Beta, but it was far better than Vasquez's one.  
What was her name again... Vivette?  
No, wait. Yvette.  
Yes, that was her name.  
"Hello Yvette" I greeted her, trying to maintain a friendly relationship with all members of staff. "How's the promotion coming along?"  
"You know how it is Miss Forrey" Yvette said, a small chuckle sounding after a little bit of her shaking her head. She sighed afterwards, her smile sort of turning into a more natural one. "They always tell me it has been delayed for "Unforeseen reasons""  
"As much as he is annoying, Henderson is still the best person with keeping the peace and managing people" I said, shrugging my shoulders before turning to a slightly smaller man who stood beside her. "Hello Vaughn, could you mention what the recent deduction from your bank was towards?"  
Vaughn jumped slightly from the direct question to him, him no doubt still not used to speaking to people higher up than him. He pushed his glasses up on his nose and he tried his best to look me in the eyes as he answered.  
"I-uh- I bought a exercise bike recently" He answered, nervously fiddling with his hands. "I want to be fit and not be completely vulnerable in case a emergency happens"  
I nodded my head, smiling a little. He relaxed at the motion, allowing his arms to drop by his side instead of keeping them in front of him in a barrier kind of way. His short brown hair was combed to the side nicely, his small goatee matching it in colour, reminding me about how his hair was this colour naturally. It was a nice dark colour, reminding me of my brothers hair.  
His scent was scarcely there, Yvette's being the easily smelled one due to their proximity. Despite this, I could smell a faint whiff of parsley and cucumber. It always put me at ease, so it was one of the saving graces of coming down to level 517.  
Just when I thought nothing on earth could overshadow Yvette's smell, did something assault my nostrils so badly that I nearly had to gag. I nearly bent over double, covering my nose as people looked at me with concerned faces and eyes.  
"Are you alright?" Yvette's voice sounded almost distant, my attention still focused on not going out of control.  
"What's wrong?" Asked Vaughn, his voice sounding just as distant as his female coworker's.  
When I stood up straight, I glanced over to their Omega coworker with an eyebrow raised.  
With my hand covering my nose, I could still smell clay and sour apples, which pinpointed who it was that was making that scent.  
"Rhys? Has your heat started?" I asked the final man, him sniffing himself in response to my question.  
I didn't even know why he was smelling himself, Omega can't smell their own scents. His two coworkers gave a cautious sniff in his direction, them pulling similar faces to my earlier one.  
He took that reaction as answer enough, searching around in one of his pant pockets for something.  
His lighter brown hair was combed back, though in a bit more rugged style than his coworkers. In his left eye socket was a echo eye, it's blue light flashing to life for a brief moment. He better not be scanning me to check if I was a copy.  
That's just insulting.  
He pulled out a black pill from his right pants pocket, holding it in his robotic arm delicately. I've heard how hard it is to control those things, that it takes a long time to get used to. That, or you were amazing at little signals in your arms like Rhys was.  
"I, uh, thought I had taken enough suppressants today for this not to happen" Rhys said, looking apologetic as he put the suppressant in his mouth, swallowing it without liquid of any kind. "Sorry, I hadn't noticed"  
Yes, but your coworkers should have noticed something. Did they not say anything?  
Then again, with them also not telling Vasquez about the money stuck to his head, it didn't surprise me that much.  
"Alright then, what was the reason you guys called me down here?" I asked, looking over the lot of them.  
The three workers that I liked all pointed/jabbed a thumb over at the balding scientist that I identified as Nakayama.  
He was glaring intensely at me, as though by sheer will power he could make me vanish from existence. He had mentioned before that he was highly jealous of my position as bodyguard to my boss. He had also made clear that if he ever had the chance, that he would kill me at a moments notice to make sure I wouldn't "corrupt" my boss.  
His bad luck at the time however, was that my boss was nearby at that last comment. I had permission from my boss now that if he ever tried something like that, I would have full authority to kill him on sight.  
"What did you do this time?" I grumbled, crossing my arms. If he even twitched wrong, I would have no hesitation to shoot him in the leg.  
He would probably shit himself like last time if I did. I had shot as a warning at the floor last time, and he actually had to change pants when I had.  
I couldn't smell any scent off himself, but was not surprised in the least. Nakayama was apparently so embarrassed to be a Beta, he had singed off all his scent markers. He even had destroyed his own bonding site, making kids a impossibility for him. Then again, I don't know anyone who would actually have kids with this man voluntarily.  
"I made something" Nakayama told me, his voice still being whiny and raspy. "Where is he? I made it especially for him"  
"My boss isn't coming" I told him firmly. "He didn't want to come down here"  
His face fell flat when I told him that, looking at the floor as though someone had told him off. Weird guy.  
I ignored the scientist further, motioning for the other three workers to follow me as I went to check out the scribbling robot.  
It was drawing another robot, using a yellow crayon in the process. My boss's favourite colour.  
"This wouldn't happen to be another failed attempt at making a robotic clone for my boss, would it?" I asked, looking over my shoulder at the sulking scientist.  
"We think so" answered Vaughn in his stead, sighing as he placed his hand on his hips. "It started to freak out the rest of the staff when it was making death threats, asking questions about the point of life and stuff"  
The robot didn't remotely look like it could kill anyone soon, still harmlessly scribbling on the piece of paper. Still, this was the tenth time we had a complaint about Nakayama. I had to do something to shorten down the amount of call outs.  
"Nakayama, you're being transferred over to level 081" I told him, tapping the robot experimentally on the head. "Grab your shit and prepare to move down there"  
Level 081 was deserted other than for scraps and trash. He would probably thrive there while not disturbing anyone else.  
"But what about my other inventions? I'm not strong enough to bring them all down"  
"I'll bring another team down to help with that" I said, wondering how much more junk he had accumulated since last time he got transferred. "Just be ready for when we are moving things down"

(End of flashback)

* * *

I wobbled a little, my legs not being up to speed with my brain. I concentrated on not falling over and becoming a laughing stock on the pavement near Connor.  
"So Chris was mentioning something about how he wanted to go painting with you" Connor said, taking out keys hidden in his back pocket. "I think he took PJ with him for now, but I don't know where they went"  
I laughed before sighing good naturedly.  
"My god, how did you guys not get into trouble before I showed up"  
"Well, Chris did tell a interesting story of him spraying a bandit in the face with spray paint once" Connor said, opening the door to the motel. "He mentioned how it apparently worked as well as pepper spray"  
"Ow! Yeah, I probably wouldn't want spray paint in my eyes either!"  
"Same here" Connor commented before yelling something to someone inside the motel. He returned his attention back to me once a response was made back to him. "Dan said that they should only be four alleys down, before the sharp turn to the right and out of Hollow point"  
"Before or after the Purple skag cut off?"  
"After"

Following the semi vague instructions, I found my way into a ally right before the sharp turn. Down the alley, I could see the familiar heads of two boys.  
Chris was slightly smaller than PJ, but they still stood at a impressive height above me and the average woman. Chris's eyes seemed to have constant bags under them, giving his eyes a strange look.  
Besides the bags, Chris was already a guy who wasn't afraid of seeming a little bit crazy to frighten off some bandits. Well, Phil had told me that anyway. There seemed to be some people in the motel who knew each other better than the others.  
Jack and Mark knew each other quite well, better than most.  
PJ, Chris, Dan and Phil seemed to click together like puzzle pieces.  
Troye, Tyler and Connor also seemed to know each other the best, ribbing each other and making jokes.  
That wasn't to say that they didn't all get along, but there were some things that stood out in terms of how deep the friendships went. I hoped I wasn't just standing out a like a sore thumb in the middle of it all.  
"Sup Chris, PJ" I greeted, PJ being the first to turn his head to look at me. "Hope you guys haven't run into any trouble while I was gone?"  
"Nope, we haven't" PJ said, tapping Chris on the shoulder as a way to get his attention. "Chris hopes to see some fighting later, cause he still won't shut up about wanting to see how well you fight"  
"Hell yeah I do! I can't wait to mop the floor alongside Ally!" Chris said enthusiastically, spraying his paint erratically to prove his point and enthusiasm.  
PJ shook his head, not agreeing with the stand point. I could understand his reasoning. I like fighting people, but not if there was a chance for someone innocent to get hurt.  
Both PJ and Chris had their scents out in full force, but luckily they were still tame enough that I didn't have to cover my nose or keep my distance from the both of them.  
Funnily enough, their scents seemed to be the kind that didn't mingle well together. The scents seemingly were busy fighting with each other to see which one could be more easily smelled. Honey and cinnamon did not go well with Lavender and rice.  
Strange, there are only some reasons why they would be doing that. Either the two of them were competing with each other for a mate or they were in heat.  
"You guys haven't started your heat yet, right?" I asked, thinking about the fact that Jack had started today.  
The both of them turned with a concerned look on their faces. Well, PJ looked concerned. Chris looked more like I had just offended him.  
"No, the Beta heat week isn't until tomorrow or the day after" PJ explained, no doubt wondering why I had asked him that. "Why?"  
"Besides, you didn't really think that the both of us would have left the motel on our own if that was the case, did you?" Chris asked, huffing while trying to get his paint can to work once more.  
Wait. So that meant that they were trying to impress a mate. WHAT?!  
Agh, so just like so many others in the motel with me!  
Get it together Ally, just cause this is happening doesn't mean anything. Just keep talking normally.  
"People have done it in the past to try and impress women before" I mentioned, hoping it made more sense than my original thought. "Also, Jack begun today"  
"Ah, no doubt that's cause he constantly tries to take suppressants but always fails" Chris said, happier due to his can working again.  
"You guys don't try them?"  
"Nope, we always go the old fashioned way" PJ piped up.  
"Locking yourself in your room with food, water and guilty pleasure food?" I asked.  
"You betcha"  
I laughed, thinking back to the first time I had my heat. I was thirteen, considered a late bloomer.  
I was in so much pain from the literal growing pains that came with a Alpha maturing phase, that I was way too busy crying, sobbing and clinging to whoever was close to me. Which usually ended up being... My boss.  
I chucked the thought out of my head, trying to expel the thought of him far away.  
Luckily neither of the men noticed the shaking of my head nor my smile faltering. They still seemed busy with painting.  
"Hey Ally, there's a playground over there" PJ said, pointing at the previously mentioned playground. "Do you mind if I go over there to try and practice some of my gymnastics?"  
"Sure, just make sure that we can both still see each other" I mentioned. God, it sounded like I was talking to a child or something.  
PJ jogged over to the playground and I could already hear him swinging around on the metal bars with ease. I guess that was his talent.  
I glanced over Chris's shoulder, seeing that he was busy making a drawing of a raven haired girl in a pitch black dress. She had bright white skin, almost looking like she was made of porcelain.  
"So, who's that supposed to be?"  
"Ah, just some random girl I saw walking around in Hollow point one day" Chris answered, busy drawing some shoes on the painting. Ballet shoes.  
"How do you get up high to paint the top part?" I asked, glancing to the top of the roof of the building he was drawing on. "Surely you don't just throw some paint up there?"  
"Ah, see, that's where PJ comes in handy" Chris said, pointing to the black pipes that ran all along side the walls. "He would do the outlines and high parts from climbing up those"  
"Does that work?"  
"Eh, not really" Chris said, shrugging his shoulders. "The top always looks super weird"  
I looked over to the top, and I had to admit with what he had mentioned. The top did not look like the same style or grace as the rest of it seemed to do.  
"Hey! I just got a awesome idea! Why don't you throw me up?"  
"What?! Why?!"  
"I can reach the top that way!" Chris said enthusiastically, jumping up and down like a child would. "Come on, let's at least try it once"  
I have him a stern look, which he responded with a mock stern look. After a little bit, he looked seriously at me, to which I sighed and begrudgingly agreed to it once.  
"If something goes wrong on the first go, then I am not doing it again"  
"Yeah, okay"  
I lifted him up bridal style, the same way I had done on one of the first days. He looked apprehensive for a moment, but gave me a nod once he was ready for me to try.  
All fell still around me, I could even hear that PJ had stopped swinging around on the playground to look at us.  
I spread my legs a little below me, and with a fraction of my might, threw him straight up from where I stood. I heard him yell something as he headed up, but I couldn't hear him due to how nervous I was that I wouldn't catch him.  
Once he reached the apex of his flight (Is that even the correct word?), he held out his spray can and swished it quickly from side to side and removed it once he dropped too far.  
I held out my arms as far from my face as I could, so that I wouldn't smack him into my face once I caught him.  
Catching him was far easier than I had anticipated. It felt like I was catching a small bag of lollies.  
Except that small bag of lollies was taller than me, and I was dead afraid of dropping him.  
I rooted my legs to the floor once I had him, pulling him closer to my chest than I probably was planning to originally.  
"WOW! Oh my god! Ha! What a rush that was, huh?" Chris laughed, clinging onto me like I was going to drop him at any moment.  
"Are you okay?" I asked nervously, hearing PJ come rushing our way.  
"Yeah, I am perfectly fine" He laughed once more, glancing at how I was holding him. "In fact, if I get held like this every time, I'd probably do this more often!"  
I glanced down at what how I was holding him and it took me a moment to realise what it was that he meant. I was clutching him close to me, his head smushed against my right breast.  
"Oh! I'm so-  
"Don't be" Chris said, cutting me off before I could finish my sentence. His mouth had formed into a sleazy grin. "I quite like being in this position"  
"Guys! Are you both okay?" PJ yelled, nearly banging into me.  
"Yup, I'm very good"  
Oh my god Chris you sleazeball.  
PJ glanced up at our collective effort on the painting and his mouth opened wide in a state of surprise. When me and Chris glanced as well, did we see the effect.  
Chris's swishes with black gave a effect like her hair was wildly blowing about her head, her face set in concentration. The outlines gave her a surreal look, almost as though she could vanish from existence before our very eyes. Her mouth was set in a tight frown, her eyes blazing with anger.  
All that simply from me throwing him up for a couple of seconds.  
"Wow" PJ said, whistling in appreciation as he looked over it all. "I think this is your best one yet Chris"  
"Yeah, it is" Chris said, patting me on the head. "Good job princess"  
Princess. That word...

"Ow! Did you have to drop me?" Chris yelled as he rubbed his sore backside. "I didn't know you hated being called that"  
I blinked, seemingly having dropped him in my shock. He got himself to his feet, dusting off his pants and shoulders.  
"Sorry"  
"No, don't worry about it" Chris said, shaking his can of paint. "I should have known better than to call you a degrading name"  
It wasn't degrading. Not at all.  
It simply was that someone else had called me that long ago...  
"So, good luck you guys! I gotta run back to the motel cause Mark was complaining about helping him with replacing a light bulb" Chris said, before quickly kissing me on the cheek. "No take backs!"  
And with that, he ran off to do whatever it was that Mark wanted him to help with. I was too busy holding my red hot cheek.


	18. (18) You spin my head right round

Ally's P.O.V.:  
"So, when did you get into gymnastics?"  
"I know it sounds corny, but I tried it once to impress a girl that lived in the same town"  
God, how I loved to see how PJ was gliding around the playground as though he had the power to levitate around each segment with such grace. Who knew I had the hots for guys who were athletic?  
Then again, seeing as I was a Alpha, that might be a reason why. Some Alpha went after athletic partners because they felt the need to have a partner who could keep up with them.  
Then again, Alpha also sometimes went after submissive partners due to the need to be in control. I don't know, Alpha can be weird after all.  
"Oh, okay" I said, trying to keep my attention on his constantly moving form. "How did that work out for you?"  
"Badly" PJ responded, laughing somewhat nervously as he recalled the event. "She thought it was girly, not to mention I did not realise she had a very easily angered boyfriend"  
When we weren't talking, the only noises would be the squeaking noise coming from his hands sliding around on the metal bars and the crunching of old, wet bark underneath my feet. I would occasionally move myself, either to get a better look or simply to ensure that PJ wouldn't end up smacking me in the face.  
Sometimes PJ would glance my way, almost as though he wanted to make sure that I was watching him. When he did look at me, it would usually be accompanied with a ice melting smile. It reminded me of his scent, sweetness in every fiber of his being.  
He glided around the small set of monkey bars with ease, obviously relishing the opportunity to use the muscles he had stored in his arms.

"Yikes"  
"You can say that again" PJ said as he hung upside down to focus on me for a moment, his smile still being in full view. "If it wasn't for Chris sticking a firecracker down his pants, I think I would have gotten my ass handed to me"

He swung with his hips upwards, holding himself in a position that reminded me of a handstand. Well, except he was holding onto a bar instead of the ground.  
It looked impressive, you could see all his muscles taut to hold himself there. Once he relaxed, he swung forward and used the following momentum to hook his legs around the back. He then let go with his hands, and used his muscles once more to stay in position.  
Wow, for a Beta he had pretty impressive muscles.  
"Ouch!"  
"Yeah, dude had to go to the med clinic" He laughed nervously once more, seemingly embarrassed by the mere thought of the event. "After that day, the four of us always high tailed it whenever we saw him"  
Four of us? I assume he is talking about Chris, Dan and Phil.  
So that meant that they knew each other way before coming to the Little hole in the wall motel. Why would they come to this dump of a town?  
"So, how long have you known the others at the motel?"  
"Well, I knew Dan, Phil and Chris from my town" PJ said, pulling off another weird move that involved him to swivel around on the metal with just his hips and legs. "When we showed up to the motel, Mark and the others were already living there"  
"Why did you guys leave that town?"  
I expected PJ's smile to fall flat off his face when I had asked that. True, he did look a little confused with the question.  
His smile turned into a more melancholic version of its former version.  
"The four of us knew that bandits were becoming a very common thing in the neighboring towns" PJ said, stopping to sit on the the monkey bars. "So we tried to convince the town to move with us to a new location"  
"And they didn't?"  
"Yup, they argued that something like that would never happen to a small farming town without any real money or gold" PJ sighed, leaning back as he stared the cave roof. "We thought that if the four of us would leave, some might follow us"  
"What was it's name? The town I mean" I asked, moving closer to him in case I needed to comfort him.  
"Titan's end"  
Oh shit. I knew the place well.  
It was a bandit camp.  
I had heard from the locals that it was formerly used for farming due to the amount of usable soil from the dead crab worm that had died there long ago.  
"PJ, I'm so sorry" I said, placing a hand on the nearby hand that I could reach.  
He turned his head to look at me, his eyes still soft and calm. He honestly didn't look like he was going to cry.  
I guess the subject was a well healed wound at this point. He must have thought about it a bunch.  
God, just another reason why I hate bandits.  
"Don't worry about it" PJ said, taking my hand into both of his. He seemed like he was trying to comfort me more than I was trying to comfort him. "I've had a good two years to realise that nothing would have changed their minds"  
"What about the other three?"  
"Chris seems to dodge it with humor, Phil seems kinda okay with it and Dan simply seems to avoid the subject" PJ said, the gentle warm smile slowly returning to his face. "They need a bit longer, but it will be fine"  
His hand was warm, unbelievably so. It wasn't rough and calloused like he had been working the fields or in construction. It was soft, as though he worked only with dainty things.  
Wait. I hope he isn't hoping that I am dainty. He'll be sorely disappointed if that is the case.  
Only then did I notice he was looking from my hand, to my face, back to my hand and back to my face. It was as though he was thinking of something but wasn't quite sure what to do with the thought.  
"What's up PJ?"  
He jumped, as though I had just brought him out of a thought process of his. His smile had been replaced with a look of shock with mild fear.  
"Oh, uh-nothing" He said, letting go of my hand and patting his pants awkwardly.  
Okay, now I know he was thinking of something. Should I push him to find out what it is?  
Nah, let him be. No need to be pushy. I owed these guys everything when it came to their hospitality and kindness, so any risky actions should be held off until I am sure it would be easily forgiven if it was not wanted.  
I simply smiled at him, letting him know that things were good. He seemed relieved with it, smiling back at me, getting back into the swing (Quite literally) of things.  
I grinned while stepping back. Like water off a ducks back for him.  
"So, you must have been at the motel for about two years now" I said, picking up a piece of bark and absentmindedly picking at it. "Were people worried about you guys when you first got there?"  
"Sorta, you know" PJ admitted, shrugging his shoulders slightly. "They had to make sure we didn't have guns or were bandits"  
"Makes sense" I admitted, flinging the piece of bark somewhere in the distance. I heard a noise of a window breaking, and I hoped it wasn't because of my bark. I didn't even put that much force into it.  
"We didn't get as much flak as you though"  
"I completely understand your guys hesitation with me"  
"Really? You don't think we went overboard?"  
"No, not really" I admitted, leaning against the monkey bars. I could feel them vibrating with his movement. "Some Alpha are real pieces of work"  
"Don't you ever get tired of being compared to other Alpha though?"  
"Of course I do, but it's the same as that people think Omega are all wimpy and that Beta are boring"  
He nodded his head, but he seemed more focused on some fancy move he was doing. What on Pandora was he even trying to do?  
My unspoken question was answered when he managed to pull off a spin around the monkey bars, a flip in the air after some swinging and landing with just his legs holding him up.  
He looked a little silly. His curly dark locks hanging downwards, the silliest and goofiest grin on his face. Did he get a head rush or something?  
"Tada! I'm spider man!"  
Bitch, you pull of something that looked like it took centuries to practice and you are talking about the fact you are upside down?! Damn dude. That must mean the flip and stuff was normal to him.  
Wait, why would he say that he is spider man when he is upside down? That isn't spider mans most famous posi-  
Oh.  
The upside down spider man kiss.  
Is that what he was trying to imply? He was fighting with Chris's scent earlier.  
But what if I was wrong? Would he completely freak out?  
Shit, maybe he was simply quoting a movie. Wait, that wasn't a quote.  
Ah, whatever. Go for it.  
I quickly gave him a peck on the lips, immediately regretting doing so. Great job Ally, you're coming across like a Skag in heat.  
Or am I? It was a kiss. Then again, kisses meant a lot to some people.  
He covered his mouth with one of his hands, looking at me with a shocked face. Yup, prepare for him to hit you.  
"I-  
He stopped my sentence long before I could stammer out some random sentence that would no doubt be mostly gibberish. He gently placed his hands around my face, cupping my cheeks along with my ears the best he could in his upside down position.  
He seemed to attempt to pull himself closer to me at first, but he couldn't seem to get close enough. Instead, he gently pulled me towards him and planted his lips on mine.  
I was slightly stuck on what to do, but PJ's coaxing with his hands gave me enough hints on what to do. He tilted his head slightly so that he was kissing me on a angle, his lips exploring my own with a hurried attitude.  
As though he thought I was going to pull away at any moment and slap him in disgust or something.  
His lips felt kind of warm, having the same soft velvety feel as his hands did.  
His eyes closed slowly as he continued to kiss me over and over, a guttural moan escaping his lips at one point.  
If I still had my brain at that point, I would have wondered just how long he could stand being upside down and without proper breathing. Thing was, I didn't have my brain at the time.  
Instead, I placed my hands on the side of his head like he was doing for me. I could feel the softness of his curly locks and feel his heartbeat race through one of my fingertips. His heartbeat might as well have been a mouse's at that point.  
As I closed my eyes, I could feel the intensity of his lips even stronger. Heck, I was even quite certain that I could smell PJ's bonding site flaring up. It was on the left side (Or was it the right? He was upside down after all) of his neck, and the same warm autumny feeling was still wafting into my nose as I took in deep breaths of it.  
God, he smelled amazing. Despite his story of not getting that girl, he certainly seemed to be very good at kissing.  
He moved his hands down to my shoulders, caressing them through the fabric I was wearing.  
Eventually after a while, some small amount of brain did return, long enough for me to be worried about his erratic breathing.  
When I pulled the both of our lips apart, PJ's eyes opened slightly. I was right, he was taking in mouthfuls of air like he had been trapped underwater for the brief period of time. His face had turned a deeper shade of red than when we started, his head being the point where most of his blood was going.  
Well, to be honest my breathing was pretty much the same. We both looked at one another for a while, catching our well missed breath back.  
I wasn't sure what to say about that. Should I even say something?  
When I sniffed PJ again, some of his scent was being overwritten by something. It wasn't mine, right? I mean, I didn't even get close to doing anything like that-  
"THERE ARE THE FUCKERS!"  
Jesus christ, what now?!  
I looked over to who had shouted at the both of us, growling with a deep dark tone to it. I really didn't want to amuse these idiots when I had confusing emotions to deal with.  
They looked like the stereotypical bandit, there being only three of them. If even one of them had a gun, they would get sent to the hospital.  
"What the hell do you guys want?" I growled, the question being more of a threat and deterrent than a actual question. I heard PJ come off the monkey bars with a thud on the ground, but I kept my eyes on the new nuisances in front of me.  
"What do you think you're doing on our territory? HUH?"  
More and more shouting form the bandits annoyed me greatly. Yelling something about how they saw me fling a dude into the air and how I broke their hideouts window or some bullshit.  
"FURTHERMORE-  
God would these guys shut up?!  
As I picked up another piece of bark off the ground, PJ huddled close to me.  
"Do they have guns?" I whispered to the taller man behind me.  
"I dunno, I think one of them does" Came back the slight fear filled voice of PJ.  
"Which one?"  
"The middle one"  
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TWO WHISPERING ABOUT?!"  
Well, let's hope this dude didn't have any kids.  
I raised the hand to my eye level, holding the bark in such a position I would be using my thumb to fling it. The dude in the middle was still ranting and raving about being in his territory. He also said something about how we stunk, but I paid no heed to it.  
When I finally flicked the piece of bark, it sounded almost like someone had snapped a rubber band back and forth.  
The bandit fell silent, the piece of bark lodging itself into the cranium. I wasn't a hundred percent if he was dead, and his buddies seemed to be just as unsure as me.  
One poked him, the now dead bandit collapsing into the wet bark underneath our feet.  
"So, are the rest of you gonna leave us alone? Or-  
"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"  
"I guess that's a no"  
I was about to whirl around to PJ and tell him to go and find a safe place to stay, but to my surprise, he jumped onto the monkey bars still nearby us. When the bandit that charged at us passed underneath it, he used his momentum to kick the bandit directly in the neck. It sounded like the usual sound of bones breaking, a sickening crunch mixed with some squishy sounds.  
A muffled splutter, mixed with some red fluid coming out of the bandits mask gave a good enough indication that I didn't need to handle him anymore.  
"Nicely done PJ!" I said, flashing him a thumbs up. His response was a shaky thumbs up with a heavily unsure smile. Dude probably hadn't actually done that before.  
The final bandit looked nervously between the both of us. I killed his buddy with a piece of bark and PJ killed his other buddy by swinging around on monkey bars and kicking him in the neck. I wonder what he was thinking we would do once he got involved in a fight with us.  
"D-D-Don't kill me!"  
Well, that answered that question.  
"I won't" I said, standing cockily with my hands on my hips. Hey, if I had just killed a dude with a piece of bark, I think I can afford to be. "Only if you get the hell out of here right this second"  
"Y-Yes Ma'm! Thank you!"  
He tried to run away immediately, but he slipped and fell flat on his face as he tried to turn around too quickly on the wet bark. Both me and PJ looked at each other, shrugging our shoulders at the situation. Quite a bit of scrabbling, flailing and wailing later, the bandit disappeared into one of the many dark side alleyways away from us.  
"I think that was nice of you"  
"What? Letting him go?"  
"Yeah, you simply could have decided to kill him convenience sake, but you didn't"  
"Well, there's always the hope that he's too scared to continue being a bandit and actually make a proper living"  
"I guess so, let's hope he makes that choice"  
"You know what's funny?"  
"What?"  
"Chris was the one who wanted to see fighting, and it literally happened after he left"  
"Yeah, talk about irony"


	19. (19) Heavy heart

Ally's P.O.V.:  
"YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!"  
"No, not really"  
"Chris, don't yell at the dinner table"  
I giggled, the family attitude from the boys shining through as we all sat munching on roasted root vegetables. Chris was shouting in annoyance, realising that he had missed another chance to see me in action. Tyler would gently scold him, so that the people sitting across from him would not get pelted by half eaten bits of food that he was chewing at the time.  
I really felt like part of the family now, instead of a stranger in the midst of a bunch of people who tolerated me. It felt amazing. The little bits of chit chat didn't feel like something foreign to me now, I even joined in with some.  
It was Connor and Troye's turn to cook dinner, and the oven timer had apparently broken a while before hand.  
They apologised a million times for the slightly burnt vegetables, them turning crispy and oily instead of soft and delicate. It wasn't that big of a deal to me, and it seemed to be the same for everyone else as we sat around the dining table.  
It was the nine of us around the table instead of ten, due to the fact Jack didn't want to come out of his room. It was a mixture of reasons, Phil had conveyed from him. He had swung straight into the fever part of the heat and it had caused him to get a blinding headache. Not to mention, he knew how sensitive my nose was.  
Apparently he didn't want me to have to take a suppressant just so he could sit while munching on food at the dining table. It was actually quite sweet for him to take me into consideration. So, Phil brought a plate of food to him before dinner began and made sure he had plenty of food and water.  
I knew how dangerous it would be for me to be near the rooms, even if the boys opened them a slight crack to get some fresh air. Even now, with everyone crowding around me and his door being closed, I could smell his scent from down the hallway. The lettuce in his scent completely disappeared and it became simply a very overpowering smell of cookies, reminding me of how a persons scent could change during their heat.  
"Something wrong Ally? You seem concerned about something"  
I tore my eyes away from Jack's door and looked over to Mark, who was the one who had asked me the question. Many of the others had stopped their idle chatter, looking over to me with worried faces of their own.  
"Oh, it's not much" I said, trying to wave away their concern. "I was just aware of how I could still smell Jack even here"  
"Seriously?! Wow, your nose is amazing" Connor said, sniffing the air as if to try and see if he could smell him. "The only thing I can smell is my failure at cooking"  
"Well, you guys do know that Beta suck at smelling things, right?" Troye piped up, his teeth gnashing on a slightly too dark carrot. "Alpha are the best at smelling"  
"Isn't it also a thing that Alpha have the strongest scents?" Dan asked, absentmindedly poking at a piece of beetroot on his plate. I found it funny that Dan didn't want to eat the beetroot, seeing as his scent had beetroot in it. I was actually having some difficulty differentiating between the two beet smells.  
"Nah, Omega have the strongest scents" Tyler said, using his fork to point instead of his fingers. "Omega and Beta sometimes think that Alpha are the strongest ones, due to the fact Omega can't smell themselves"  
"Wait, seriously?" Phil asked, sniffing his own armpit. Dude, why are you even smelling there? "I can smell myself"  
"Phil, that's sweat that you are smelling" PJ said, shaking his head slowly as though he was talking to a young child who just said something stupid. "It's not your scent"  
"Speaking of scent" Chris said slowly, raising a eyebrow at PJ. He seemed to be smirking at him, as though he knew something dirty about him. "Why do you smell like Ally?"  
Everyone stared at PJ, him freezing while half bringing up a piece of food to his mouth. His cheeks turned a very light shade of red, but he shrugged his shoulders as if he hadn't really noticed it before.  
Most people looked confused at him, some sniffed the air to double check what Chris said. Yes, he did smell slightly like me, my scent being way more powerful than his natural one.  
"I don't know" PJ lied, trying to seem like he didn't really care about the subject. "Maybe I accidentally brushed up against her one time"  
"Dude, everyone knows you can't get someone else's scent that way" Chris said, poking him in the shoulder. PJ involuntarily flinched to the touch, making Chris's smile go even wider. "The only way to smell like someone else is if you've been sleeping with someone"  
Every bit of noise stopped. Like, some people even stopped breathing for a brief moment. I could hear someone dropping their fork, but I wasn't sure if it was out of fright or pure anger.  
I expected PJ to call him a liar, to protest how that made no sense or how it was in no way the truth. But it wouldn't do much good, and both he and I knew that.  
Everyone knew that it was a real thing for Alpha's scent to be on the person that they mated with. It especially happened with territorial Alpha, who wanted to claim the person as their own.  
What did not make sense in my mind, was how my scent ended up on PJ and none of the others that I had had romantic instances with. If anything, my scent should either be on them all, or none of them at all.  
Not to mention, the person I ended up having the closest thing to mating with, was Phil. But I could smell no trace of my scent on him, plus Phil would actually have smelt it on himself long before anyone else would.  
How would I explain this, without myself ending up like a sleazebag or PJ like someone promiscuous?  
"Well, if the person is territorial enough, sometimes you don't have to sleep with them" I explained, deciding to take the plunge and talk before people started to make assumptions in their head. "I assure you, PJ did not sleep with me"  
I forced myself to look at people in the eyes as I said that, refusing to be the person who simply stares at their feet while admitting something they didn't like.  
As I looked around the table, I noticed that it was Tyler that had dropped his fork. He was currently picking it up, his eye brows creased together in thought.  
Connor was looking at me with a somewhat blank face, as though he expected me to continue speaking. Something told me that continuing to talk would not have helped one bit at this point.  
Troye seemed to be in thought, just like Tyler. His face seemed more sympathetic than I expected, as though he knew I was going to say that.  
Mark didn't meet my eyes. Was he mad at me?  
Dan had his eyes narrowed at me, disbelief in his eyes. What made me upset, was the fact that his eyes also seemed to blaze with anger. He was not happy with this news.  
Phil looked almost like a puppy that had been kicked. He looked like I had just betrayed him, and it felt like a stab to the gut.  
PJ looked like he was partially relieved that I had spoken up, but also looked like he wanted to speak up and defend me. He would occasionally glance to other people in the room, but his eyes were never met. Everyone either had their eyes on me or the table beneath us. He looked dead afraid to speak up.  
Chris had a concerned look on his face, much different to the joking and smirking one from earlier. Something told me that he had brought it up as a joke, a way to rib at PJ. Now that it had exploded into something that was not good, he actually seemed sorry for bringing it up.  
"Look, obviously I have to step in here" Tyler said, and I was so happy that I could have hugged him to death at that point. "We need to seriously discuss what happened, and why so many of you seem upset with it"  
"I'm not upset with it" Connor said, looking at Tyler like he had just been offended.  
"Me neither, I'm fine" Troye said, raising his hands in confusion.  
"I wasn't talking about the both of you" Tyler said, and you could hear that he didn't mean anything rude towards his two companions. But, you could still hear the sternness in his voice as he spoke calmly. Maybe he was silent as he thought about how to bring up the subject. "Mark, why are you upset with it?"  
Mark jumped ever so slightly, as though he was not really paying attention in the last little while. He still avoided people's gazes, but sort of looked in Tyler's direction.  
"I-I'm not..."  
"Bullshit you're not" Tyler scolded him, placing his hands in a folded over position on his chest. "Either say why you are upset with it, or don't look like someone just kicked you in the balls"  
Weird analogy.  
Mark finally looked up from the table, at first looking at Tyler before looking at me. He had extreme difficulty in doing so, but he eventually managed to fix his gaze back over to Tyler.  
"She had comforted me a couple of days ago" Mark admitted, fiddling with his fingers. "And when I heard that just now, I thought maybe she had simply comforted me to try and sleep with me"  
"Ally, is that true?" Tyler asked, moving his gaze over to me.  
"No! I would never try to do that to him! I admire Mark from the bottom of my heart for accepting me in the motel despite my shady past and my class, and I wanted to help him when he needed me" I said, wanting to hurt myself for hurting Mark once more. Just how many times would I hurt this angel of a man? "Mark, I am so sorry that you thought that I was trying to do that"  
"Hold up, before we continue" Troye said, stealing a moment before I could go on a tirade on why I would never do that in a million years. "Mark, I know it was a thought in your mind, but did you truly believe it to be a possibility?"  
"It was a paranoid thought in the back of my mind" Mark admitted, finally getting the courage to look at me. "I was even trying to convince myself that it was a stupid thought, I'm sorry"  
I gave him a small patient smile, and his features looked instantly relieved once I did. Both our messages got across, we forgave each other both for the misunderstanding and thinking it was a possibility.  
"Alright, one down" Tyler said, sounding somewhat triumphant for clearing up one problem. "Dan, why are you upset?"  
"I thought she was toying with Phil's emotions" Dan admitted, pointing over to said boy when he mentioned his name. But wait, didn't you come onto me the same night that you caught the both of us?...  
"Dan, she is allowed to pick who she likes" Phil said, looking at Dan with a stern and serious look. "I don't own her"  
"What?! You aren't upset?!"  
"No, I'm not"  
"Oh..."  
"But that doesn't explain why you looked so upset Phil" Connor said, looking more and more confused by the second.  
"Oh, I... I was upset at the thought that I was not good enough" Phil admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. God, how I wanted to tell all these boys that I loved them all, I just was stupid at how the hell I was trying to figure out who I loved the most.  
"Alright then, how about you Chris?"  
"I kinda just brought this up as a joke guys" Chris said, looking at us all as though we had stuck a explosive in his birthday cake. "It wasn't supposed to be taken so serious"  
"PJ?"  
"I was feeling stupid for letting her take the blame for everything" PJ said, rubbing a hand nervously through his hair. "I mean, most of what the two of us did was because I initiated it"  
"Oh really?~"  
"Not now Chris"  
"Sorry"  
Tyler sighed, but surprisingly seemed happy with how things had turned out. He looked around the table, eventually landing his eyes on me.  
"Ally"  
"Yes?"  
"When I styled your hair a couple of days ago, you told me that you liked pretty much everyone in this motel" Tyler said, leaning back in his chair like a detective would. "Is that true?"  
"Yes"  
Even though my gaze was locked on Tyler, I could see people's eyes widen as I continued to admit these things. I trusted Tyler, but I hope to god he wasn't just gambling with this.  
"And has that changed at all?"  
"No"  
"And has this mess happened from you trying to figure out who you love the most?"  
Oh god my cheeks flared up like a cherry when he asked these questions. Body, this is a bad time. I was already embarrassed as it was.  
"Probably"  
Tyler's face stopped looking so stern, a bright smile now coating his features. He looked around the table triumphantly, as though he had done a miracles work. In my opinion, he might as well have just now.  
"Wait, you said she liked everyone in the motel" Troye said, pointing to himself as he continued to speak. "Why hasn't she made a move on me?"  
"Oh that's simple" Tyler said. "I told her that you, me and Connor were gay"  
"Ah, I see"  
The lot of us laughed, some awkwardly. The truth was, that the problem wasn't fully taken care of. Sure, Tyler laid down the building blocks, but it would take effort from me and the boys to make the rest happen.  
If any of them actually wanted anything to do with me after this.  
"Oh my god, I must seem like a slut to you all" I said, nearly taking my head into my hands.  
"No, don't feel that way" Mark said, finding his voice back after a while. "You are young, and you are probably trying to figure out what it is that you want in a man"  
"Or woman" Chris piped in, and I was thankful for the mediocre joke at his point. "Whatever takes your fancy~"  
"Ha! Would you dress up in a dress if I was into women?" I joked with him.  
"Hell yes! If it would get me noticed by you, I would wear a thong and a bra too!"  
"Anything to get noticed by senpai" Dan joked, and I was happy to see that he had his joking attitude back instead of the angry one from before.  
"Oh no!"  
"What's wrong Phil?"  
"The food got cold"  
Finally, we all laughed. Without anything that held us back, emotional or physical.  
"Wait, who wants to tell Jack about this?"  
"Oh hell no"  
"Not me"  
"Begs not"  
"I don't wanna"  
"Guys come on!"

* * *

 **(WARNING! HEAVILY SUGGESTIVE THEMES AHEAD!)**  
God, how I hated the noises at night out my window.  
Some random douche bag was yelling at his friends about how they wanted to get laid or something equally stupid. They sounded drunk as fuck.  
I felt the urge to go and shout at them to shut up, but instead fell out of my bed and shut the window. Yelling at them would no doubt just get us all into trouble.  
I grumbled, rubbing my eyes in both a tired and annoyed attitude. Just how many times would I be woken up at night and lose sleep?!  
I was already having difficulty with the fact that the cave never had proper sun light. And with the raging hormones, the guys in the motel all having incredibly nice scents.  
Speaking of the guys in the motel, who would have actually thought that the straight people actually were all interested in me?  
Even as I kissed them and held them close to me, it felt like something foreign. I mean, it felt amazing, sure.  
But it had no love in it. Just hormones and the natural urge to find a partner instead of being with someone because you knew they undoubtedly loved you.  
Did I love these guys? Or was I just interested in shagging one of them? God, I hope it wasn't the second one.  
I got the feeling these guys liked me in the serious sense. Otherwise, why would the majority of them have gotten upset when PJ had my scent?  
It did happen that some Alpha would have multiple partners, but it was sort of uncommon. Omega did have the reputation for being very possessive of their partners, but I wasn't very happy to follow reputations due to many of the Alpha ones being incorrect after all.  
I sighed once more, my mind being a mess of emotions as well as thoughts on how I was going to live here.  
Was I going to live in this shit hole of a town for the rest of my life? And if I did, which of the men in this motel would I actually want as a partner? Would I even want a partner?  
Mark was mature, yet also held a kind nature and kind heart. But I could see from a mile away that a relationship between us would take years to get past his previous emotional trauma. Would it be worth it?  
Jack had a energetic vibe to him, with a attitude and personality that could bring a smile to anyone's face. He already knew about the fact I used to work for Hyperion, but would that end up biting me in the butt later on?  
Phil was a literal ray of sunshine in my life, but could also end up being a very kind and wise person when you least expected it. But, I did sort of get the impression that our fling in the bathroom was simply hormones and contact rather than him actually wanting to be with me...  
Dan was reluctant to trust me, with good reason. But he seems to be a kind person once you get past the icy barrier he puts around himself. But, he got so mad when he found out that I had done something with PJ. Was he lying about me toying with Phil?  
Chris was quite tame with his advances towards me. I wasn't even a hundred percent sure that he was into me. But, I loved his joking attitude, and never failed to get a grin going on my face. But, if we even would get a relationship going, would he take it serious?  
And finally, PJ. He had a kind, warm attitude that would match his scent. When me and him made out at that swing set, it certainly felt right at the time. But, was I letting myself get carried away at that point?  
God damn it. I've got myself into a fine mess.  
I sat on my bed, deciding to cast away the thoughts for now. If I was staying here for the rest of my life, I would have all the time in the world to sort things out. Proper sleep is what I needed at this point.  
And that was what I was about to do, when it hit me. A oh so familiar scent wafted into my nose, even though I was quite certain my door was closed and everyone else was in their rooms.  
Pine and Whiskey. Mark's scent.  
His scent was overpowering, as though he had jumped straight into his heat. Which made absolutely zero sense! It was just beginning to get into the Beta week!  
I could hear the gentle patting of his feet against the floor right outside my bedroom. At one point it would be calm and collected, while the other moment he would be pacing in a strange and unsteady manner.  
I had heard of a weird rumor. Some Omega (And some really rare Beta and Alpha) would be able to knock themselves into heat if they believed someone was stealing their partner away.  
And, some Omega would even do it without being aware of it. They wouldn't remember a thing after the event, just that they went to go do something and that they woke up in someone's bed. As you can imagine, this would lead to very weird and embarrassing situations.  
I remember my former boss telling me about it happening to him once, with his then current girlfriend. His girlfriend had believed that he was sleeping with someone else, went to his room one night (Which surprised my boss a lot, due to the fact his girlfriend had never shown interest in sex before that) and then proceeded to slap and beat the shit out of him when they woke up in the morning. It was a weird thought, and I thought he was joking at the time.  
I guess not.  
"Mark, is that you?" I asked through the door, concerned for him. I wasn't just going to leave him out in the hallway, reeking of heat. Even some of the Beta in the motel might have difficulty with ignoring him if they woke up.  
I heard a non coherent mumble, something I couldn't understand due to the door being shut and him almost whispering.  
"Mark?"  
It took him a second to respond, it sounded and smelled like he had stopped right in front of my door. I strained my ears for even the slightest noise, while trying to pinch my nose shut.  
"Please...help me"  
Now, I know what you are thinking. "Ally, don't open the door you nut case! Something is obviously wrong!". Well, to be honest, you are not wrong. But when Mark said he needed my help, I acted before I thought.  
I immediately unlocked the door with my key, wrenching open the door as fast as I could without tearing the door of it's hinges. Which was quite hard mind you, I felt like breaking the door down at that point.  
"What's wrong? I-HM!" I got cut off mid sentence, Marks own lips crashing into mine with a ferocious attitude I hadn't seen before in him. He practically shoved me backwards, causing me to have to grab onto him for balance.  
Once we got past the door, he kicking the door with all the might in his right leg, the door crashing back shut.  
He wrapped one leg around my waist, the other holding up his precarious form as I still tried to stabilize myself.  
Once he finally released his lip lock, he panted heavily as he slipped one arm around my shoulder and his other arm under my other shoulder, locking his arms into each other behind my back. I could see the red in his cheeks, it being a big tidal wave of red on his normally calm face. I could feel the hot breath that contacted against my cheek, his eyes being unfocused and filled with lust and impatience.  
"Ally, please" Mark pleaded with me, and I could feel himself apply pressure into his arms and leg. It felt like a very weak snake that was trying to meld with my own body. He pressed himself so close in fact, our noses were in constant contact as I tried to look into his hazy eyes. "I need you to fuck me"  
Now, I had heard a number of swearing and weird things being said to me in my short lifetime. But this was on a whole other level.  
"Or, you know, let me fuck you" Mark rambled, his constant moving lips making light and feathery contact against my lips, due to his proximity. "I really don't care which one you do, I'm perfectly fine with letting you ram me up the ass with a strap on"  
In any other situation, I might have laughed at that previous statement.  
I smashed my lips against his, the hormones in my body driving me absolutely insane. I grabbed his other leg that was still perched against the ground, moving it to wrap around my own body. He didn't seem to care, he was too busy sucking on my lips, occasionally running his tongue along my slightly cracked lips.  
I don't know if I did it on purpose, but I slammed him into the nearby wall. It sent tremors into the wall and ground, and I swore that my lamp fell off the bedside table when I did.  
The both of us slid to the ground, and I grabbed a good chunk of his bright red hair to drag him off my lips. Once I managed to, I used the free moment of my lips to start attacking the top of his neck. He moaned loudly as I gently sank my teeth into his neck, not hard enough to break the skin but enough that I could feel my teeth leave a indent in the unmarred flesh. Once I was satisfied with the mark I had left, my instincts drove me to search around his body, searching for the bonding site.  
 **Had to find it. Find it. FIND IT.**  
I found it eventually, as my sniffing and biting around his tummy area led me to find it. It was just above his belly button, and I could see the many scars line around his tummy as I lifted away his navy blue shirt.  
Surprisingly, it hadn't ever been bitten. It looked clean and perfect, no trace of him ever giving someone free reign with it.  
 **I could take it. Make him mine.**

No. Wait. No no no no no no.  
Stop! Stop yourself! This wouldn't be what he wants!  
 **He gave you free reign though, right? What would be the harm in a little taste?**  
I let out a angry cry of disbelief, biting into my right hand. I had to break it. I had to break my hormones. If I had tried to bite anything else, it wouldn't have worked.  
I could feel myself try to scream as the searing and burning pain ran through my hand. I could feel the skin break, red dots of liquid staining my lips with a dark glossy texture.  
I could feel my mind come back to me, and I released my bloody hand with a small frail wail. I could see the flesh underneath my skin, the sight of it nearly making me sick.  
But it was worth it, I had stopped myself from hurting Mark.  
"Ally~"  
Fucking hell, I forgot he was here for a moment.  
As he tried to tug my slightly more bloody version toward him, I placed my sore and bloody hand against his chest to push myself away.  
"Mark, no" I said sternly, looking at him with what I hoped to be not a horrific sight. "You are not in the right mind for this, you don't actually want to sleep with me"  
"Yes I do"  
"No, you don't" I said, trying even more to push myself away from him. "You somehow got your hormones started up without you realising it"  
His only response was to let out a pitiful whimper, sounding almost like a puppy would. Well, if the puppy was horny and upset at not getting their way.  
Shit, how was I going to get him to snap out of this? I didn't want to bite him like I had done myself. Chances are, that might turn him on even more.  
And there was no way he was going bite himself out of it anytime soon. How could I get him to at least back off so that we would not go too far?  
I guess there was the option to, um... "relieve" him. That would make his hormones subside, and I couldn't think of how to help him otherwise.  
I reached my non bloody hand down to the tent that had grown in his pants, him letting out a big gasp and cling onto my shoulders.  
"Ah!~ Ally, you-  
"Just hush Mark" I chastised the horny man, using my right arm to cover his mouth to stop him from getting me worked up again. "Trust me, once you have your brain back, you'll be happy that I didn't go any further with you"  
I didn't even have to reach in his pants, just gently palming him through his jeans made him squirm underneath my grip and try to moan through my arm. I even think he was trying to bite my right arm at one point, but I ignored it as I focused on the bulge below the belt.  
Luckily for me, all the "foreplay" from earlier had apparently made him already quite far along. After a good couple of minutes, he violently shivered and twitched under my grip. A weird squishing noise originated from his groin, and I ignored it as I focused on making sure he wasn't trying to break the skin on my arm.  
All at once, he relaxed. I could see his dark jeans turn a even darker colour, something wet making them dirty.  
He looked so tired, like he had been on a 90 mile walk and he wanted nothing more to do than sleep. I removed my arm from his mouth, and he continued to pant for a little while, still recovering from what just happened.  
" 'm tired" I could hear him mumble, and I almost felt the need to laugh at the weird situation. Dude, you wouldn't even believe me if I told you in the morning.  
"I know, let me get you to your room"  
"Nah, lemme shleep 'ere"  
"What, in my bed?"  
"Yus, cuddle"  
He REALLY wouldn't believe me in the morning.  
Due to the fact I was dead tired myself, I decided to follow his advice. I picked him up from the heap he was against the wall, and gently laid him on one side of the bed.  
He would mumble something at me while I bandaged my abused hand, but I would gently tell him each time that I would first tend to my wounds.  
I fell into bed, quite literally. I closed my eyes, soon feeling the gentle embrace from Mark.  
I sighed somewhat contentedly, giving him a gentle kiss on the cheek.  
"Good night Mark"  
"Merry Chrishmas"  
"Sleep well"  
"Yus, love ye"


	20. (20) Shut up and drive

Ally's P.O.V.:  
"Ally"  
Who the fuck is knocking on my door at this time of the night?! Morning? Afternoon?  
Fuck it, I don't know what time it is. All I know is, I'm fucking tired and stuff.  
I opened my eyes, seeing a very blurred vision of Mark, Or well, I assumed it to be Mark. I mean, who else had bits of red, black and skin colour on their head?  
"Who is it?..." I mumbled, hopefully loud enough for whoever it was to not make me repeat myself.  
"It's Dan"  
"And Phil"  
"Something weird is going on, so we wanted to fetch you before we went and checked things" Dan finished.  
I fought my instincts to fall back asleep, pushing against the mattress to push my upper body away from it's comfy embrace. Mark grumbled, still being tightly nestled against my body.  
"Mark, wake up" I said, gently shaking him and ruffling his hair. It probably sounded a lot more drunk and retarded than what I thought it was, with my sleep making it sound was worse. It might have sounded more like "Merk, wek ep"  
He grumbled again, but slightly obliged. His eyes opened slightly, blinking up at me.  
"Dan and Phil think something is going on" I said, pointing over to the closed door of my room. But again, I think it came more out like "Dun an Pil tink sumthin is gon on"  
Despite the garbled mess that it came out to be, he seemed to understand it. Maybe all his time around Jack has made it easier for him to understand drunken drawl. But then again, I don't know if Jack drinks a lot.  
He also pushed himself away from my mattress, seeing the red bloody hand print against his shirt. He also saw the slight amount of blood coating my lips, and the amount that must have dribbled onto my pillow from my lips.  
Not to mention, when he moved his legs, he could feel the strange fluids that had dirtied his pants.  
"Wut in tha fuck happened las' nigh'? Is it even still nigh'?" He asked, pressing a cautionary finger against his shirt. When he pulled it away, it did not stick to his finger. My blood must have dried in the mean time.  
I remember my former boss once telling me how long it took for blood to dry, we were doing laundry that day. I found it really really weird at the time. Something about a hour.  
I managed to get myself out of bed, noticing the still freshly badly bandaged hand of mine. Dammit, and Troye had just fixed my other hand the other day!  
I heard Mark stumble his own way out of bed, moving over to me. Despite the fact he had just fallen out of bed (Literally), he seemed somewhat more awake than me. Heck, his next sentence even somewhat sounded like something a normal person would say.  
"No, seriously" Mark said, placing a hand on my shoulder. "What the hell happened last night?"  
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you" I said, shrugging my shoulders. Despite saying that,I decided to continue my sentence and tell him anyway. He would only possibly get more mad if I kept it a secret from him. "I think something went wrong with your hormones, and you accidentally got yourself into heat"  
He retracted his hand, smelling the inside of his forearm. Lo and behold, he smelled like me. Way more than PJ did previous dinner.  
"I-I mean-D-Did we-  
"No, we didn't" I said, causing him to let out a relieved sigh. "We came close, but I managed to stop myself"  
"How did you get me to stop?"  
"Oh, I um-  
"Ally? Who's in there with you?" I could hear Phil's voice coming through the door.  
I turned to Mark, mouthing to him that I would talk about it later with him. He looked slightly miffed with the delay in explanation, but accepted it. He nodded his head to signify that he was ready, looking over at the closed door.  
I unlocked the door, swinging it open to two faces. Dan and Phil, who were standing quite close to the door as though they had just been listening in to the conversation going on inside.  
Dan was wearing a weird pajama top, it seemed to be covered all in the exact same picture of a dog. A shiba inu if I remember correctly. I think my old friend Bailey would have called a "Doge" shirt or something weird like that. Grey pajama pants seemed to complete his outfit, his socks being a plain white.  
Phil on the other hand, was wearing a pajama top that had a whole bunch of stars with a black background on it. His pants were styled after a character on sesame street, I think cookie monster. His socks were a bright purple, nearly making me chuckle at the sight of them.  
Both of them had weird hairstyles, not like their usual ones. Dan had very curly hair, as though he had just taken a bath and had forgotten to dry his hair or something. I think he called it his "Hobbit hair". Phil had the majority of his fringe folded backwards, showing off his forehead. He looked quite mature along with the black glasses perched atop of his nose.  
The both of them took a step back, allowing me the room to step out of my room.  
They gave a confused look as Mark stepped out of my room a moment after me. Oh boy, here we go again.  
"Mark? Why were you in Ally's room?" Dan asked, but then shutting his mouth as if he had just realised the possible answer to that question.  
"And why do you smell like her?" Asked Phil. Oh Phil, you adorable naive sugar cube.  
"I-  
"Never mind that right now" I said, busy rubbing away the blood on my lips. "What was so weird that you two had to go and fetch me?"  
"We can't find PJ anywhere" Dan said, pointing to said boys room at the end of the corridor. "We wanted to ask him for... "advice", but when we went into his room, he wasn't there"  
What advice?  
"Is he in the bathroom?" Mark asked, scratching at the back of his neck.  
"No, I checked there after we couldn't find him in his room" Phil said, rubbing his hands together nervously. I could make a crack about these two doing weird things in the bathroom, but that could happen another time "And after that, I checked the dining room and kitchen"  
As Phil finished saying this, I gave the corridor in which we stood a careful sniff. Wouldn't want to jump into a frenzy from taking too deep a whiff.  
I could smell my scent on Mark first, Scented candles. I could then smell Dan, Chocolate and Beetroot. After that, Phil, with his Apple sauce and Caramel.  
I could faintly smell Troye, his Candied mints and Aloe Vera being quite strong despite him being in his room.  
And beyond that, ...  
Nothing.  
Absolutely nothing.

Where was the insane smells of the in heat Beta?! Jack with his biscuits?! Chris with his Lavender and rice?! PJ with his Honey and cinnamon?! Tyler with his Cotton candy and lollipops?! Connor with his Lemon and Cumin?!  
"I can't smell the Beta"  
"What?"  
"I can't smell any of them" I said, speaking quickly. "Not Jack, Chris, PJ, Tyler or Connor"  
At first, we all seemed to be rooted on the spot, not sure what on earth this meant, nor what we were supposed to do. Luckily for me, Mark took control once he managed to wrap his head around something.  
"Phil! Check Chris's room! Dan! You check Jack's room! I'll check Connor's room!" Mark barked, each person running to their specified room once they were given the order. "Ally, you check Tyler's room!"  
"What about Troye?!" Asked Dan, as he ran towards Jack's room beside Mark's room.  
"I'll go check on him once I have done Connor's room!" Mark said. "But I think he's fine, cause Ally would have mentioned if she could not smell him"  
I didn't even pay much attention to the fact that I had to be careful with Tyler's door, kicking it in with the adrenaline that was now pumping through my veins.  
Oh how familiar this strange natural high felt, but part of me was not enjoying at this very moment.  
A gun fight? Sure, I can enjoy that high any time.  
But with people missing? Oh hell no.  
As I quickly scanned through his room, I could smell small bits and pieces of his smell. As though he had just been here, only a brief moment before.  
"TROYE! WAKE UP! PEOPLE ARE MISSING!" I could hear Mark shout at the door of Troye behind me.  
Just as I was about to give up and leave to report that he must have vanished or gone somewhere, did I notice that someone had wrenched the window completely all the way open.  
Like, not even that it was put open on a latch. Someone had broken the latch, and the window was now torn off it's hinges, smacking into the frame underneath it.  
I ran over to the window, pushing half my body out the window. It was pitch black, so it took me a moment for my eyes to adjust.  
Once they did, did I see some kind of bandit truck in the background. One with a medium sized trailer on the back of it, with some bandits trying to put some sort of wriggling package in it.  
A closer look at the wriggling package, and I could see a boy who was tied up, small bits of light blue hair calling my attention.  
Tyler.  
"TYLER!" I screamed out into the alleyway, hearing a small muffled cry in response to my scream. The tied person looked at me in fright, trying to wriggle out of the grip of the people moving him into the truck.  
All the bandits turned to look at me, the majority looking dumbfounded at me. Whatever, if they are distracted, that's enough for me.  
I was about to drag the rest of myself out of the window and after them, but a shot rang out, breaking the window right next to me into a million clinking pieces onto the wood below.  
I might be crazy, but jumping headfirst out a window while some dude is firing bullets left and right does not sound like a good idea.  
I pulled myself into the room, instead dashing out of the room and into the corridor.  
"Ally! What happened?! We heard shots and-  
"Some guys have taken the boys from here and they are loading them all into a truck!" I quickly shouted out, running past four either very confused or tired boys.  
I wasn't really paying that much attention, but the fact that I heard four sets of footsteps thundering behind me in pursuit gave me a little bit of comfort and made me aware that they had wasted no time in running after me.  
I pushed open the front door, taking no heed in the the fact I might have smashed the glass of the door.  
As I thundered down the road, I could hear the sounds of what should be a truck or car trying to start up.  
"Ally!"  
"Hey! Wait!"  
"We can't run as fast as you!"  
I could hear Phil, Dan and Troye yelling that at me, their sentences mixed in with ragged breathing and heavy sounds of wheezing. I don't blame them, Omega have a hard time dealing with running or lifting a lot of the time.  
Mark seemed to be closer to me, my ears managed to tell me. However, he too was beginning to get wheezy and slow down.  
At that point in time, I didn't take much into account while I rushed around the final corner to where the truck was. I was too busy with the thought that I might be too late if I waited for them.  
As I rounded the corner, I could see and hear the truck rev into life, trying to take off without me and the others. I could spy three of the five Beta in the back of the truck, the majority of them sticking their heads up to try and see out the back. They all had their mouths bound, unable to yell out beyond a muffled cry for help.  
The truck got about 10 meters down the road, before I managed to hook both my arms underneath the back wheel axis (I think that is what it was, dun kill me). I heaved with both my arms, managing to stop the truck in it's tracks, holding the back wheels in place off the ground and in my grip.  
"What the fuck is the problem?! Drive faster!"  
"I can't sir! It won't go for some reason!"  
No shit Sherlock, your measly truck is being held by me. But why is my right arm feeling like it's on fire right now?  
I mean, I know the tires are making a lot of smoke and shit, but it shouldn't be making my arm burst into flames.  
As the front tires squealed loudly against the wood beneath us, the back tires spinning in the air like there was no tomorrow, I looked over to my right hand, seeing the fact that the bandages from last night were completely soaked and that blood was dripping through onto my arm and onto the wood beneath us.  
Shit! I had completely forgotten that I had injured it last night!  
"Hey sugar tits!"  
I looked up into the back compartment of the truck, a bandit hovering there, holding a chamber of the gun directly into my face.  
I had been so distracted by my injured hand and chasing after the truck that I had completely forgot about-

A ear splitting loud bang happened a moment later, my entire body becoming numb with the impact of the piece of metal lodging itself into my flesh.  
As I tried to get back my senses, I realized I couldn't see out of my right eye...  
All of my muscles seized to work, dropping the truck with a thud. I had been shot a number of times, yet I had never lost all amount of senses in my body. I could hear faint sounds of muffled screams, but they all felt a million miles away at that moment in time.  
Was-Was this what dying felt like?...  
 **All this, and for what? A bunch of boys who didn't care about you beyond them using you as a glorified bouncer? Pathetic...**  
"ALLY!"  
"Oh my god, is she okay?!"  
Ally. How strange that someone else would be calling that name in my final moments.  
When really, the person who had called me that long ago would have no doubt chastised me for getting myself into a fight without a gun, injured, without a shield and without backup.  
"Ally, please talk to me" Mark said, his voice wavering and sounding like he was going to cry.

"My fucking eye is killing me" I hissed, clutching my shoulders as I lay in a heap on the floor.  
Huh, guess it wasn't my final moments after all.  
"Oh thank god, you might be okay"  
"Are you kidding me?! She has an eye missing!"  
"I can fix that, but maybe later"  
"Never mind me!" I yelled over the lot of them. Well, more like shouted as loud as I could at that point. "Go after the truck!"  
"The truck has been long gone for a while now" Dan explained, pointing down the now empty street. I couldn't even hear the truck in the distance.  
"Besides, with our speed, we might as well be snails compared to that truck" Phil said, moving a hand of mine to inspect my eye. "Ow! That looks nasty as heck!"  
"Plus, if the four of us were to catch up with them, there still wouldn't be much we could do to them" Troye said, helping me to a sitting position. "We can't fight to save our lives"  
"Literally" Mark finished, putting a arm behind my back to stabilize me. "Troye, do you think you can fix her?"  
"Yeah, should be a piece of cake" "Troye said, and seemed to be looking directly at the mess that was my right eye.  
"There's no time, we need to know where that truck is going at least" I grumbled, experimentally touching where my eye was supposed to be. "Also, please make sure you get the bullet out before you try and heal it"  
"I already know where it is going" Mark said, looking angrily at the black tire treads left by the front tires. "I'm more worried about what might happen to them in the meantime"  
"Really? Where?" Asked Dan.  
"Bossanova's hideout"  
Mother fucker.


	21. (21) Jailhouse rock

Tyler's P.O.V.:  
"Tyler! Hey, are you okay?" I heard someone hovering above me ask me in a worried and hushed tone.  
Ugh, I felt like someone had dropped me on my head on the ground. Who knows, maybe they did.  
"Connor, go back to bed" I mumbled, wanting to fall back asleep. My bed was hard and cold, unlike what I was used to in the past. "It isn't the morning cycle yet"  
"Well, that's true, but you still can't go back to sleep!" Connor said, causing me to grumble the more he spoke. "We got kidnapped, remember?!"  
"Connor, don't forget, Tyler did get dropped on his head by that dude with the red mask"  
"The one with the gun?"  
"Nah, the one with the gun was the other one"  
"With the black 'air sticking out of 'is mask?"  
"No, the dude with the scar on his neck"  
"Wait, was the dude with the scar the one who dropped Tyler? Or was he the one who had the gun?"  
Oh my freaking god. How is someone supposed to get their beauty sleep with all this racket about?  
"Ow my head" I groaned, trying to gracefully open my eyes to the bright light above us. Well, I didn't open my eyes gracefully. I wish I did though. "Where are we?"  
"Probably at wherever those bandits took us" I heard Chris say from the other side of the room. I heard a banging noise against some metal a moment later, hearing him come towards me once he was satisfied he could do nothing more to whatever metal thing he was banging on. "I'm more worried about how the heck we are going to get out"  
"Yeah, I am not letting that bastard Bossanova get his hands on me" PJ said, trying to tug on whatever metal was nearby.  
"We 'ave to form a plan to escape" Jack said, putting a arm behind my back and bringing my tired and hurt body to a sitting position. "After all, Ally..."  
The memories flowed back to me in a quick motion, remembering all that had happened in the last couple of hours. That's right. Ally got shot. All we could do was stare at her, seeing her crumple into a lifeless mess.  
She got shot in the eye fatally when she had run after the truck that had all of us piled in it. She got so close too. She had done so much for us in the short while that we knew her...  
"If it's a possibility, I want to find that asshole" I could hear Connor say, as he leaned against the brick wall nearby me. "And make him pay for killing her"  
I usually would try and calm him down in this sort of situation, but his anger was understandably well placed. Heck, I was so very annoyed myself with these guys.  
They take us from our safe little home, while we are in heat, they are no doubt going to sell us or keep us a "servants" and they shoot the most precious angel of a girl that just wanted to be accepted in our midst.  
They deserve to be attacked by all the hippies and animal rights activists. I know full well how vicious those people can be.  
My blurry vision cleared, and I could see fully where the five of us were at this moment. It was a tiny jail cell, thick black iron bars keeping us locked in. The bricks were grey and white, bits of paint peeling off here and there. I could see a guard off down the hallway, holding a rifle in his hands. He seemed bored and annoyed, sometimes turning his head to our conversations, but would make no move to indicate that he was annoyed with it.  
All of us had wet, sweaty hair that stuck in random places on our head. Our fever part of the heat was making things really difficult to do, even without the added head trauma. The only real thing that gave us some hope was the fact we were not in the horny stage yet.  
That would come soon however, it's crushing reality daunting to the lot of us. God, what were we going to do when that rolled around?  
I reached a hand up to my throbbing head, but felt no wetness to indicate that I had been bleeding. Well, at least that was better than bleeding out on the floor. The only moisture came from a single bead of sweat that dripped down from a loose part of my hair, annoying me with its mere presence.  
"How the hell are we going to get out? We can't rely simply on Dan, Phil, Troye and Mark back at the motel to do everything" PJ said, rifling through his pockets for anything usable. After a small amount of searching, he retreated his hands, throwing his arms up in the air as a sort of frustrated defeat. He truly had nothing on him to help us at this moment.  
Jack patted his pants, looking for the gun that he had the previous days. Unfortunately for us, the gun was either taken by the bandits or left back at our motel. His face fell as he realised the fact, looking over at the guard not far from our cell.  
He tried to use hand signals to indicate something, but we got lost half way through his long hand puppet explanation. All I could tell was that he didn't want to give away anything to the guard.  
Which is kind a moot point, seeing as the guy could hear us for the last ten minutes. Maybe even longer.  
Despite all the things that had gone wrong so far, something in me snapped when I thought about our friends back at the motel. This wasn't even the first time we had lost someone. Wade and Bob.  
How long ago was it that we had lost people to these awful disgusting pigs of men?!

You know what?! Screw it!  
We were going to get back to our motel unharmed, if it cost me all my limbs and my dignity! Wait...  
I struggled my way onto a standing position, Jack reluctantly letting me stand on my own. I moved close to the cells doors, knocking on the metal with my fist.  
"Excuse me, guard" I called out. The others flailed their arms about in a weird manner, but their meaning was very clear. They were wondering what the hell I was doing.  
The guard turned his head to look at me, but I couldn't tell what he was thinking. He had a black mask on, small bits of black hair springing out at random intervals. Was this the guy who dropped me on my head?  
"Wot?" The guard responded, a gruff and uncultured speak being the way he responded to me.  
"Come here" I calmly, yet firmly called him. Everyone stopped with their frantic movements or tapping on my shoulder once I said that sentence, knowing full well what I was trying to do.  
He turned slowly to me, as though he was either confused or in a trance. I couldn't see his eyes, so I wasn't sure if my persuasion power had taken effect.  
He paused right in front of my cell, his head tilting down to look at me. I couldn't hear him say anything, just breath and somewhat creepily stare at me.  
"You will open this door, and let me out" I commanded, looking at him with a firm, yet slightly angry look. I had to be careful not to let my anger affect my way of talking to him, it wouldn't take effect if I did.  
The guard didn't move, just continue to stare at me. I was about to open my mouth and repeat the sentence, when the guard slowly started to move his left hand from its stationary position.  
Unfortunately, he wasn't reaching for the keys to the jail cell. He was moving his hand to the rifle.  
"Dya tink I'm bludy styupid?!" The guard yelled, using the butt of his gun to try and smack me in the face. Lucky for me, the bars on the jail cell were too tight together for him to hit me, instead making a loud banging noise against the bars. "I'd be ded fore t'morrow!"  
He continued to spit (Or well, you know, try to) and rave angrily at me, swinging the gun in a weird arcing motion above his head. He looked like he had gone completely insane.  
Unlike the rest of the boys in the jail cell, I didn't retreat from my position at the jail cell door. I knew my power would work, I just had to get it right. I must have been too angry while talking to him.  
"I said; **You will open the door for me, and let me out** " I commanded once more, allowing the guttural voice to emeanate from my belly and to glare at him with harsh eyes.  
The guard stopped whatever weird thing it was that he was doing, dropping the rifle suddenly without showing any sign of meaning to. He allowed his arms to relax, rummaging in the breast pocket above his heart.  
He was moving far too slowly for my opinion, but I knew trying to command him to hurry up would most likely just break the first command without doing the second one correctly.  
He retrieved the keys, slipping them smoothly into the lock. The key turned, the lock clicking noise of the door unlocking echoing down the empty corridor and all around us. The door swung open, but not without a big creak and some metal scraping against the dry, cracked and abused floor.  
He stood there, holding the door open while staring at me. Was it safe to come out?  
I took one cautious step out of the cell, not daring to take my eyes off him. Once he made no move to stop me, I took another step, which became another and another.  
All the while, both me and him kept our eyes locked on each other, as though it would break the moment we would tear our eyes away from each other. I was afraid to say anything, afraid that any move of him would make him pick up his previously forgotten gun and fire it into my chest or head.  
His gun. His gun... His gun!  
"Jack, gun" I spoke quickly, still not daring to take my eyes off the guard in front of me, despite the fact I had the liberty to now run past him.  
I could see the guard twitch once I spoke, making me certain that the persuasion had worn off.  
"JACK!"  
I could hear Jack make a mad dash for the rifle at the guards feet, scrabbling on the floor with obvious fear filled movements. The guard noticed what he was doing, trying to reach down and grab the gun before he could.  
I reacted on a knee jerk reaction to the movement, kneeing the guard in the face as he was bending down to reach the rifle. I heard a gross noise, a sound of something crunching. He reeled back, clutching onto the nose while swearing something loudly.  
Jack once more scrabbled around, this time to his feet. He held the rifle in his hands, pointing it to the guard. The guard didn't notice the gun being pointed at him at first, rubbing his bleeding nose. I heard the gun click once, then twice. Is now really the time to be flipping the safety on and off?!  
"Put yer fuckin' 'ands up ya piece of shite!" Jack growled at the man, prodding the guard with a sharp object that had been crudely taped to the end of the gun. Mental note, Jack's accent kicks in a whole bunch when he's angry or annoyed. " 'Ow's it feel to be on the other end o' the barrel?!"  
This guard was either very dumb or inexperienced, turning away from the lot of us and attempting to run down the hallway he was previously guarding. A long, long, very narrow hallway. That was straight.  
"Jack!" I could hear Connor yell, pointing down the hallway at the running bandit.  
"Don't worry 'bout it" Jack calmly said, all the while aiming down the rifle's sights. "I got 'im"  
We hurriedly covered our ears, but it proved to not really be needed. The gun seemed to be one of those weird ones that muffles the sound of the shot, the only noise being a weird sound of air whooshing.  
The guard stopped running, falling onto the floor in a weird position. Guess people don't really get to pick how they die, or land after they die.  
For a little bit afterwards, the lot of us just stared around us. I guess it didn't occur to us yet that we had gotten out of the jail cell and acquired a weapon without dying.  
"Holy. Shit." Chris said, being the first to have his brain catch up with what had just happened. "That was freaking awesome you two!"  
"It was bloody terrifying!" I said, feeling my legs try to turn into jelly. "I thought I was going to die!"  
"Me too! Like, 'oly shit!" Jack said, clutching the rifle close to his chest like it would give him some kind of support. "I was certain that 'e would be the one to get the gun first"  
"Good thing Tyler gave him a good kick to the face, huh?" PJ said, patting me gently on the shoulder. Not quite a kick, but close enough.  
"As much as congratulating ourselves is great, we need to get out of here" Connor said, looking down to the now lifeless hallway in front of us, a worried look crossing his face. "Something tells me that if we take too long, our victory will not matter at all"  
"We'll 'ave a snowballs chance in 'ell if we try to go out the front door though" Jack said, opening the magazine of the gun to inspect the amount of bullets. "We 'ave 'bout seventeen bullets left"  
"That's plenty" I said, starting to walk carefully down the corridor.  
The rest of the boys started to follow behind me, their steps being slow and cautious. The long hallway was without any form of doors, except for one at the far end. If some other guard came down here and started to shoot once he had noticed we escaped, we would no doubt all be in extreme danger.  
Likelyhood was that if we were in a situation like that, maybe one of us would survive. If even that.


	22. (22) Hit and run

Mark's P.O.V.: (I swear to god, I can't find any pictures of all the youtubers in this story all together! I mean, I know the group is a little mixed, but come on! D:)

"This is a bad idea"  
"I agree, they'll recognize us immediately"  
"Guys, I swear to god" Troye sighed, trying to look intimidatingly at the two vastly taller men that were close behind him. "If neither of you two are going to shut up soon, I'm going to lose my damn mind"  
Dan and Phil shifted their position again, annoying Troye with their inability to stay still or be quiet. I didn't blame them, shifting myself. Ally gave me a quick glance, her eyes seemingly trying to figure out what I was thinking. Once she couldn't find anything, she returned her attention to the big hulking weapon she had been given by August.  
I glanced nervously over the small rock outcrop we hid behind, it probably being the millionth time that I had checked. I knew the place like the back of my hand, yet also hated the place like nothing else. The memories of this place are...  
Oh wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me rewind a little in terms of explaining.  
Ally had gotten shot, true. But by some grace of a higher entity or maybe simply luck, it had been fired by a gun that was faulty, only firing the bullet with a tenth of the power that it should have.  
The bullet had caused a big amount of damage, but that was healed by Troye once we had gotten the broken pieces of the bullet out of her eye. I don't know how the heck she got away with just a curse here and there along with smacking her hand against the ground.  
I had recognized the truck immediately, it being the one that had captured me along with Wade and Bob long ago. When Ally had suggested going immediately after the truck to get our pals back, all four of us had told her that she was out of her mind.  
She had remained determined, even going so far to even tell us that she was fine with the idea of heading out on her own and leaving us back at the motel.  
I was still hesitant, the mere idea of getting within a mile of that wretched hideout made shivers go up my spine and nearly make me sick to the stomach.

* * *

"There's no way I'm letting you go on your own after them" Dan said, steeling his nerves and putting his foot down on his own scared and nervous feelings. "I'll go with you"  
"Yes, after nearly losing you just now, it wouldn't be right" Phil said, placing a hand on Ally's shoulder. She turned her somewhat shocked eyes over to him. "Count me in"  
"Well, I guess someone has to come along that knows first aid and will keep the lot of you out of trouble" Troye joked, wiping away any traces of blue away from his lips. "So that just leaves..."  
Me. All four of them turned their eyes to me, the most common emotion being that of concern and worry.  
Each of them now knew about my aversion for the place, knew about all the sordid details of that time. I tried to keep my eyes planted on my feet, not wanting to see the emotions that were obvious in their eyes.  
"Mark"  
I raised my head to Ally, seeing her emotions had changed from the pity filled ones to a grim and serious expression.  
"Stay at the motel and keep someone with you" Ally said, looking over the three that had volunteered to go with her. "It's probably best to take Troye, something tells me that he won't get a chance to use his powers once we get in trouble over there"  
"I-  
"Just stay hidden in some remote part of the motel" Ally kept going, despite some of the horrified faces being directed at her. "If we don't come back within a day, assume that we failed"  
"Ally, you don't really mean-  
"I'm dead serious" She said, looking over to Dan and Phil, who had uttered their disbelief. "I'm not invincible, that much should be obvious to you all"  
We all fell silent, not sure how we were to take the gravity of the situation. The last time someone had gotten kidnapped, we had tried vainly to get them back, with very little result.  
I had to know. If this really was the last time I would see her, I needed to know.  
"Ally"  
"Yes Mark?"  
"Why are you going so far for us?"  
The question took her by surprise, but only slightly. Like she had been expecting the question, but not from me. She took a moment to respond, finding her hair and twirling it around her finger as she seemed to think about how she wanted to word her response.  
"It would be a disservice to simply say that I care about you all, cause it's so much more than that" Ally said, tugging on her hair at one point like it irritated her. "The entire range of emotions I feel for you all are so hard to explain in words"  
"Can you try? For me? For us?"  
She released her hair, deciding either that she didn't need it or simply noticing that she would likely rip out her own hair if she kept tugging on it.  
"When I'm around you all, I finally feel like I don't have to put a mask on" Ally said, looking at each of us in turn. "I don't have to be a trained person who does their job, I don't have to be a pretty girl who does everything to be what society expects me to be, and I especially don't have to be a savage due to my bloodline nor weak due to my gender"  
Dan's mouth dropped open, the speech coming entirely out of left wing for him. He simply stared, any previous emotions overwritten.  
"The moment I see any of you hurt, I feel as though I have failed you all somehow, as though I believe that I have the responsibility to take care of you all" Ally said. "I have this entire feeling that I have never felt around anyone else, to want you all to be happy, to be carefree, to smile, to dream, and to love"  
Phil was rapidly blinking his eyes. At first I thought he might be blinking due to not believing the words he was hearing, but another look proved it to be him trying to blink back tears.  
"And these emotions are weird, like, I don't even know how they came to be" She continued to say, despite the fact that I was already nearly in tears from the first part. "All I know, is that I want to help you all, beyond what I would have done for anyone else"  
I felt someone jab me in the ribs, seeing Troye raise an eyebrow. I knew instantly what he was trying to say to me. He was wondering how on earth I could not stand by her. That, or he was wiggling his eyebrows weirdly at me. To be honest, it could be either of those.  
"Alright, I'll come with"  
"What? But aren't you-  
"Scared stiff of the place? Yes. Too scared to go and save my best friends? Hell the fuck no"  
"What are we waiting for? Let's go!"

* * *

Of course, I had been very easy to have bravado when you weren't in front of the actual place you had to break into. Now that the lot of us were crouched behind a small cluster of rocks, looking over at the front entrance to the bandit hideout.  
I had managed to easily led all of us there, the place not even being hidden at all near the abandoned factory.  
What was making us all nervous, was the strange suggestion from Ally on how we were supposed to get inside.  
"So, I'm sorry, run by the plan for me again, would you?" Dan said nervously, peeking over the small rock cluster.  
Ally sighed, it being the fifth time that she had been asked to repeat what was really a simple plan.  
"We walk in through the front door" Ally said, not bringing her eyes over to the lot of us. She was busy reloading the elemental pistol, changing it's colour to green. "Let's face it, they will not be expecting that"  
"But won't they recognize us?" Asked Phil, also for the millionth time.  
"The only person I can imagine that they would possibly recognize is Mark" Ally confidently responded, turning her head to look at me for a brief moment. "If you guys want to head back home, I don't blame you"  
"No, we're coming with you" I told her firmly, annoyed at my voice nearly squeaking at the end of my sentence.  
The other firmly nodded their heads, making sure that I was not the only one that was ready to go.  
She nodded her head, accepting our choice. She took a deep breath in, standing up brashly on the spot.  
"Follow me only if you want to, and don't show any sign of being afraid of these guys if you do" Ally said, taking steps over the small amounts of rocks in her way. "Square your shoulders back, look people in the eyes and act as if you own the place"  
And with that, she set off in a fast paced walk over to the entrance to the hideout. I wasn't sure if I was the first one to stand up and go after her, but when I looked beside me, all four of us were following her.  
It was hard to not glance down at our feet and to keep staring at the guards as we approached. I swear, my heart leaped into my throat when one of them stepped forward in front of Ally.  
"Oi! Wat ur yu peeple doin?" The guard stammered out, nervous despite the fact we had three shortish people and two lanky Omega boys for a group.  
Ally didn't respond immediately, just turned her head slowly to look at him. She raised a eyebrow, her mouth turning downward into a frown.  
"Please, please tell me you are joking" Ally responded almost pompously. "Then again, I suppose a blithering moron like you wouldn't even have the brain power to understand who we are"  
"B-Bud the boss-  
"Now, unless you have a death wish" Ally said, moving her hand over to the gun on her hip. "I would move out of the way"  
The bandit looked over to his other friend, only seeing the dude shake his head furiously to indicate that he wanted nothing to do with the current situation. He looked back over to Ally, her hand still placed against the gun.  
He hazarded a glance over to the lot of us. Despite my entire body telling me to turn tail and run for the hills, I kept my legs rooted to the spot and forced myself to look at him.  
Out of my peripheral vision, I could see that Troye, Phil and Dan were even going further than me. All three of them had a nasty snarl on their faces, making them all look like a league of angry minions of Ally. Or a bunch of moody teens. Both of those work.  
"I-  
Ally clicked away the part of the holster that keeps the gun in place, and it seemed to be enough to get the guard to jump nearly a metre in the air.  
"I'm surry" The guard said, quickly moving to open the door for us all.  
"You better be" Ally said, giving him a none too light shove out of the way.  
We followed her inside, seeing the many trucks and vehicles around the place. What on earth was going on here? When I was here last, cars in the main lobby annoyed Bossanova to no end.  
As some of the bandits around the place stared at us, a loud speaker attached to a wall nearby flared into life, a really whiny voice coming over the speaker. Oh god. I knew who that was.  
"IN ABOUT TEN MINUTES- What? My woofer's off? Oh just let me... There we go!- IN ABOUT TEN MINUTES, THE RACE WILL START!"  
Oh, I guess that answers that question. How convenient (You're welcome XD).  
"THE PRIZE ARE SOME RANDOM BETA MY BOYS FOUND AROUND THE PLACE AND- What now?!... What?! The Beta are missing?!- I, UM, HOLD THAT THOUGHT FOR A MOMENT!"  
The loud speaker shut itself off, leaving my four friends fuming on the spot. Dan tore his eyes away eventually, swearing under his breath.  
"Motherfucker"  
I, unlike the others, was having second thoughts on coming to this place. Just hearing his voice made me want to burst into tears and vomit. Preferably not at the same time, but I would probably have no choice in that matter.  
"Mark?" Troye asked, looking over to my frozen face. "Are you okay?"  
I took a deep breath in, trying to calm my rampant nervous energy and adrenaline rush.  
"I'll be a whole lot better once we leave this place" I admitted, and he seemed to take that as a sufficient answer.  
"So, what's the plan now?" Asked Phil, still keeping a very strange angry expression on his face. Like he was trying to be macho and bad ass but kinda failing. "They just mentioned that the others must have escaped, do we go to find them?"  
"Easiest thing to do would be to enter the race"  
"What?! How is that the easiest?!"  
"If we win and the boys get recaptured, then we win them" Ally said, her eyes now scanning over the different kinds of trucks around the place. "If they don't get recaptured, then we can kick everyone's butt in this place instead"  
"You say this with the certainty that we'll win"  
"Of course we'll win" Ally said, and for a moment her cocky attitude returned. "You've got me with you- Ah! Let's take that one"  
She pointed to a truck nearby, but our hearts sank when we saw that the crew that belonged to it was already there and tinkering away. This didn't seem to stop her though, she kept power walking her way over.  
"Hey, we're using your truck now"  
"Who the fuck are you lot?"  
"Doesn't matter, we're taking the truck"  
Oh god, is this really the only way she knows how to get things from bandits? Is it the only way at all?  
I glanced over to the three other Omega, them just shrugging their shoulders at Ally's way of getting things from these guys.  
"No, it's ours!"  
"How funny, I wasn't asking for your permission" Ally said, grabbing the ankle of one of the bandits. Her voice was chipper at first, but became annoyed a moment later. "Get off"  
And with that, she proceeded to fling the bandit over her shoulder. He smacked into another bandit on the other side of the room, and a small brawl started to break out due to that.  
The other bandits scurried off the truck, some being afraid of Ally while the rest wanted to get in on the brawl across the room.  
"So ladies" Ally said, pushing the accelerator on the truck smoothly with her foot. The truck let out a deep rumbling rev, the vibrations being very clear to us on the ground near her. "Let's ride"

* * *

Jack's P.O.V.:

"How many bullets do we have left?"  
"Tyler, ya asked that literally five minutes ago"  
"I know, tell me again"  
I sighed, opening the magazine clip once more to check. I was partly paranoid myself about the amount we had left, and the amount was dwindling faster and faster.  
"Five"  
"Thank you"  
I had counted each time I had used one. Once again my old habit of firing before really needing to had bitten me in the butt. Eight of the bullets were fired cause we either thought that someone was coming around one of the corners, or it was me firing at shadows cause I thought I had heard something.  
The other four bullets were used on guards that stood in our way. None of them carried weapons for some weird reason. Just used their fists, which didn't really help us in the slightest.  
At one point, we were stuck in front of a electronic door that had the lever all the way on the roof. PJ had been able to climb the pipes and move it for us.  
At another, some explosives had been left out. Of course, Chris immediately took those and proceeded to get us out of a couple of troubles.  
Connor had helped us at one point were he needed to outrun a laser mounted turret. I felt kinda bad for him, his task was leagues worse than ours.  
Luckily, Tyler didn't need to use his powers to influence anyone after that one guard in front of our jail cell. That was stressful enough for him.  
And then there was me. They guy who had wasted half our ammo due to getting afraid of shadows and people thinking something in the distance was another bandit. Great job me.  
"How long have we been walking?" Asked PJ, as we rounded another corner. The place was getting darker as time went by, and we were certain now that it must have been night time. "God, I feels like we've been walking for hours"  
"I don't know, I haven't been wearing a watch"  
"Neither"  
"No watch on me"  
"Sorry bro"  
"Ugh"  
"Wait, what's this up ahead?"


	23. (23) Larger than life

Ally's P.O.V.:  
"Please remind me why I have the gun again?" Troye asked nervously, turning his head to look at me from his position of the shotgun seat.  
"Because it's dangerous for Mark to drive and shoot at the same time" I responded, deciding to curb my original sardonic response to his question.  
"Why can't Phil or Dan be the one to do the job?" Troye asked, trying to lift the heavy gun in his hands. The result ended up in him barely lifting it from his lap, his arms and hands shaking from the strain of holding it in place. "I mean, I don't even know how to shoot this thing!"  
"You don't even have to do much more than shoot the already loaded bullet vaguely in the direction of anyone who tries to open your door or Mark's door" I explained, pointing at both of the doors respectively. "The moment they know you have a person with a gun that can shoot, they'll hesitate to get near your two in the drivers cabin"  
"Wouldn't it be better for you to have it? I mean, I've seen you fire a gun with deadly accuracy before" Mark said, his hands traveling over all the unfamiliar knobs and handles in the drivers seat. He was trying to make sense of the strange vehicle, him definitely being the best person to drive the truck while I was busy doing by job on the back of the truck.  
"Because that would leave the both of you without anything to defend yourselves" I said, giving a quick glare over to the group of bandits getting a little too close to the truck. "Bandits immediately go for the driver in these sorts of situations"  
"What happens if someone tries to shoot through the windshield?" Phil piped up, his eyes often looking at the other trucks gathered in the musty and dark place.  
"Then Mark and Troye duck and either drive around them, or ram them" I said, picking out some ammo from my pocket and handing them to Troye. "If you guys do manage to get the chance to reload, here is some ammo for in case that happens"  
Neither man asked any more questions, the full realisation of how much they had to do weighed on them. They both knew that if they failed, someone would die. If not all of us, in Mark's case.  
I left them to their thoughts, moving over to the two jumpy and scared Omega. They had a equally dangerous job, one they only took when I assured them that I would be doing everything I could to keep them safe.  
"So, our job is to be here on the back of the truck with you, warning you when a truck is riding along side us or when bandits try to jump on, right?" Asked Dan, his face showing the amount of fear he held for the coming couple of hours. His voice also made his fear clear, squeaking slightly at certain points of his sentence.  
"Yes, that's correct"  
"What if we see a person with a gun?"  
"You need to tell me immediately when you see someone with a gun, even if they are shooting at something else" I warned, look at both of them gravely. They both nodded their heads. Dan doing it slowly like he wished he had another choice, while Phil nodded quickly in his jumpy state. "So, repeat to me which side you're checking"  
"I'm checking the left side" Dan said, pointing out behind him.  
"I'm doing that on the right side" Phil said, nodding his head in the direction he mentioned. "Or, you know, the left if we change position to face the drivers cabin or in front if we-  
"Phil please, you're making it worse" Dan chided him, looking at his friend upset. "Just call it the right side"  
"Okay" Phil said, looking at his feet down trodden. He was babbling due to his nerves, me and Dan knew.  
Dan suddenly looked guilty for his chiding of his friend, moving to hug the older boy. Phil gratefully opened his arms to accept the hug, the both of them simply holding each other.  
Phil turned his eyes to me, them being somber in contrast to their usual happy versions.  
"Are we going to die?" Phil asked quietly, holding onto Dan for comfort.  
I opened my mouth to say something about how the both of them were going to be fine, but closed it quickly after. There had been plenty of times that I had been assured that nobody was going to die, only for circumstances and the situation to prove that statement wrong.  
My reluctance to give him an answer was not something he had hoped for, his eyes looking down at the floor and looking like he wanted to cry at the admission.  
"Ally? Why didn't you answer Phil?" Asked Dan, removing himself from Phil's arms and looking at me with concerned eyes of his own. Phil had managed to pull himself together, avoiding the potential waterfalls.  
"Because I can't truly answer one way or the other" I said, twirling a lock of hair in my fingers. I tugged on it now and then, annoyed with the way I had messed up reassuring the two boys. "I can only answer that I will do everything in my power to try to keep the both of you alive"  
They didn't say anything, just looked at me with sad eyes. It was clear to me that even that answer was not good enough.  
"Ally, I want to say something in case we don't make it" Dan said, rubbing the upper part of his right arm. Dude, don't you know about the bad luck that comes with saying something like that?! "I-  
A ear splitting screech rang out, causing the three of us to cover our ears and grimace at the invasion. It was the loud speaker nearby that flared back into life, bringing out that annoying dubstep music along with a annoyingly ear grating voice.  
"ATTENTION ALL RACERS! THE RACE IS BEGINNING! BRING YOUR RIGS TO THE ARENA AND TRY NOT TO DIE! ThE WiNnErS WiLl ReCiEvE ThOsE BeTa We WeRe TaLkInG AbOuT! We FOUnd THeM AGAin!"  
All of us in and on the truck were looking at the speaker as though it had broken. The way he had ended the announcement sounded like something had broken, making the message sound like the volume got raised and lowered and raised and lowered and... well, you get it.  
"He's lying"  
All of looked over to Mark, him being the one to pipe up with the statement.  
"Really?" Asked Troye, looking over to the loud speaker and back to Mark. "How can you tell?"  
"It was a tell that I managed to recognize after a while" Mark said, gripping onto the steering wheel with a deathly grip at both memories and the voice from earlier. "He would fiddle with the volume on his woofer without realising it when he was lying to me"  
So, that meant that Jack and the others were still potentially safe. If nothing else, maybe the race would give them a chance to get out of this place.  
Dan placed a hand on my shoulder, trying to bring my attention back to him.  
"Ally, I really-  
The trucks around us were all beginning to start their engines, the room being filled with more loud noises that drowned everything out around us. Especially Dan.  
Dan looked annoyed, rolling his eyes and throwing up his hands in the air in annoyance. Once the majority of the noise seemed to have calmed down, the trucks rolling out past us, he tried again.  
"I lo-  
Mark must have gotten scared and nervous with all the vehicles around him turning on, deciding to turn on the truck underneath us. This had drowned out Dan, as well as giving me and Phil a gigantic shock.  
I could see Dan say something, but the noise of the truck was loud enough that I couldn't hear him. I could sort of lip read what he had said.  
"Fuck it"  
Dan moved both of his arms around my neck, pulling me close to him. He looked down at me for a moment, his eyes having a ocean's contents of emotions in them at once. He twisted his head, bringing his forehead into contact with mine, his nose brushing softly against mine. He pressed his lips onto mine, softly moving it to try and envelop mine in one single embrace.  
He didn't hold them there for long, bringing them away with a longing look into my eyes. I didn't need words to understand what he was trying to tell me.  
His eyes started to water, the tears only a little push away from spilling over.  
I wrapped my arms around him, feeling some tears slip out of the corner of my left eye. Despite the fact I was worried why I couldn't cry from my right, I dug my face into his chest.  
He patted me on the back, fitting my head in the crook of his neck, rubbing his hands through my hair and down my back. I could feel some of his tears spill into my hair.  
I could feel another pair of arms envelop us, Phil's head nestling itself onto my shoulder. I could feel Dan readjust his hug,moving one arm to hold onto Phil. I had to wriggle quite a bit more, but I also managed to get a arm around Phil. Phil's tears started to slip onto my shoulder and soak into my shirt, the lot of us barely holding back small shudders and little sobs.  
Unbeknownst to the lot of us, Troye and Mark had a arm around each others shoulder. They also were trying to let each other know the emotions of the moment, despite being different from what me, Dan and Phil were communicating. Mark was crying, he was the person more likely to be the emotional anyway. Troye was sad, but was at peace with what was happening. Troye had already accepted the fact he might die on this, but was going to do everything in his power anyway to help our friends who might be in even more danger.

"Mark"  
"Yeah?"  
"We need to go"  
"Yeah"  
Mark rubbed away his tears, starting to get the truck moving.  
The three of us wobbled a little when the truck lurched underneath us, but our collective balance made it very easy to become stable again. We pulled apart, starting to get ourselves ready for the death rally that was coming. I wanted to hug longer, but I would have to get myself into fighting shape and protect these boys rather than be a emotional wreck.  
"Dan, you're the best friend I've ever had" Phil said, his hands on both of our shoulders. "Don't ever forget that"  
"Damn straight" Dan said, smiling a cheeky grin at Phil. "Same back"  
"Ally, you're the best thing that's happened to us in a long time" Phil said, a soft smile now on his face. "And I love you"  
"You have no idea how similar that is to what I was going to say" I said, chuckling softly. "I love you both so much"  
And with that, it was time for us to begin.  
Mark drove us out of the gates to the arena, the other vehicles already making laps around the place at insane speeds.  
"Dan, left side"  
"Already on it"  
"Phil-  
"Yup, got the right side"  
"Mark, you all good?"  
"You bet! Let's kick ass!"  
"Troye?"  
"Just keep guys off us and I'll keep Mark all good"  
A large rotating platform above us had lights go on, a big bulky man covered in red, a million bits of technology and a big kind of speaker on his chest starting to fiddle with random buttons until a very loud and annoying music started to play loudly around us.

"ALRIGHT! LET'S BEGIN THE DEATH RALLY!"  
There was no crowd to speak of in the arena, so I have no idea why he was making things so dramatic. Maybe he was going insane.  
A whole bunch of the drivers and their bandits let out excited shouts, making some weird growling and screeches as though they were dogs.  
Mark stepped on the gas pedal, the truck rushing off down one side of the track. Dan grabbed onto me, managing to stop himself going careening over the edge. Phil on the other hand, had to be saved by me. I had just managed to catch his jacket before he tumbled off the side.  
"Mark! Let us know if you're gonna pull stuff like that again!"  
"Sorry! I don't usually drive something this big!"  
"Ally! Truck on the left side!" Dan cried out, letting go of me and finding his own footing.  
"Any guns?"  
"No, just three dudes including the driver!"  
It was indeed a small truck, only holding three people on it. When they neared to us, I considered disabling the entire truck by flinging something at the engine. But I knew that if it exploded, it could damage us very badly.  
"What's the plan with this one?!" Asked Dan, looking over to me as the small truck started to catch up to us.  
"Take them out one by one!" I responded, picking up a pipe near my feet and placing it in his hands. "The other trucks might get more intimidated by us removing all the crew one by one rather than just killing the driver!"  
As I finished saying that, the two non drivers jumped onto the back part of the truck, about five meters away from us.  
One of the bandits started fishing in his back pocket for something. I ran forward, ignoring the other one as I didn't want to take the chance that he had a gun on him. A good kick to the chest sent him flying into the windshield on the truck he came from, causing the truck to swerve and crash into a truck that was trying to pass it.  
As I swiveled around, seeing that the other one had decided to try and rush Dan.  
"OMEG-ugh-u-  
The bandit got stopped from finishing his sentence, being smacked once in the head by the pipe I had given to Dan. Another smack into the bandits face cause him to fall of the side of the truck, leaving Dan the victorious one.  
"Nice one!"  
"It didn't feel like it was nice!" Dan responded, looking horrified at the slightly more bloody version of the pipe in his hands.  
"Ally! Dude on a bike here!" Phil yelled from his position on the right side.  
I rushed over there, seeing the small bandit trying to crawl onto the truck. It didn't even take me that long to handle him, a swift kick to both hands made him let go.  
"Truck coming up right behind!"  
"Hand me the pipe!"  
Dan threw the pipe to me, and I eyed the coming up truck behind us. It had around fifty or more people on it, way too many people to even remotely want them close to us.  
I held the pipe as a spear behind my ear, tensing my muscles tight in my arm before throwing it with some of my might. It crashed through the front wind screen, straight into the head of the driver of the truck. It swerved wildly as the bandit let go of the wheel, crashing into at least three other trucks.  
"Troye!" I could hear Mark yell at his shotgun seat partner. I then felt our own truck swerve wildly for a second or two, before the truck became stable once more.  
"Mark?! Mind telling me what the heck is going on up there?!" I yelled back at him, trying to make sure both Dan and Phil were on board the truck still.  
Dan had managed to grab onto the base of the platform we were standing on, being fine besides being a little frazzled. Phil had fallen onto his butt, using his hands and his position on the floor to stay on the truck. Barely.  
A answer back to my earlier question came when I heard the gun going off at the front, a truck coming crashing into a barrier on our left side a moment later.  
Huh, he must have asked Troye to take the wheel while he had shot at the truck.  
I could hear the gun quickly being reloaded, Mark's muscles being plenty to pull back the heavy chamber to slot in the ammo I had given them.  
The truck swerved quickly, Mark taking back the wheel and returning the gun to the frazzled younger boy.  
To all of our surprises, a small part in the center of the arena started to light up, a small metal hatch opening itself slowly. A small platform that must have come from below appeared, a small group of very confused people on it.  
"Where in the actual fuck are we?" A familiar voice rang out, the green hair and the "scottish" accent being very clear to me from a long way off.  
"JACK!" I yelled, seeing the group turn their heads to look at our speeding truck.  
Chris, PJ, Connor, Jack and Tyler all stood in the center of the arena, looking very flustered due to their heat. Their faces lit up with recognition once they saw us, some of them even deciding to wave at me with goofy grins on their faces. Now's not really the time to be complacent...  
All the bandits originally going after our disaster of a truck instead started to get interested in the small, very strong smelling groups of boys. Way too interested.  
"Mark! Change of plans! Drive us into that part of the arena!"  
"That bit in the middle?!"  
"Yes!"  
"But that place is full of metal crates, giant skags and bombs!"  
"Exactly! It'll handle a whole bunch of the other bandits and our friends will need our help!"  
I could hear a very loud sigh, but Mark seemed to understand my logic.  
"Hold on boys! Wouldn't do for the both of you to fall off now!"  
Phil decided that grabbing onto my for support was the best option. I didn't really blame him, he seemed to have way worse balance than Dan. Dan grabbed onto something, keeping him mostly upright as the truck suddenly moved a different direction.  
The truck took a very sharp left turn, bringing us straight down one of the three entrances to the small ring in the middle. Indeed, there were some large metal crates around the place, some of them being banged into by the truck.  
"Try not to run over our friends would you?!" Troye yelled, realising that Mark had decided to head straight for them.  
"No shit sherlock! I know that!"  
Mark swerved the truck early enough that it partially blocked one of the three entrances to the ring, stopping a wide distance away from the Beta.  
"ANYONE STILL ALIVE, CAPTURE THOSE BETA!" Bossanova's voice rang out, pointing down over to the Beta who were from our motel.  
Fat chance of that, most of the bandits died in crashes or just being stupid during the short couple of minutes for the race.  
I jumped down from the truck, and at the same time, a large door opened about thirty metres from the small flustered group of boys.  
True to Mark's description of the ring, the door opened to reveal a large Skag, it's red eyes scanning over to Jack and the others.  
Jack raised a gun he had, pointing it over to the giant creature. The rest of the group all decided to run away from the precarious spot they were, in my direction.  
"NO! Don't aim for the eyes-  
But it was too late. Five shots went, each of them sounding like a wooshing noise from the gun. One missed, breaking a light behind the skag. Two hit the face, bouncing off the very hard and protective armor plating. The final two hit home, one in the left eye and the other in the right eye, blinding the beast.  
What Jack didn't know, was the fact that shooting a skag in the eyes doesn't work out well. It makes them enraged, not to mention they use their hearing and smell more than eyes anyway.  
I saw the beast get itself ready to charge, Jack's gun clicking when he tried to fire it more. He grumbled, throwing the gun in the direction of the beast, possibly to distract it.  
"TROYE! GUN!" I yelled to the boy still in the drivers cabin.  
Mark acted before Troye did, grabbing the gun and throwing it in my direction. It landed with a crash onto the floor, only a couple of feet away from me.  
By the time I had picked up the gun, the rest of the Beta had made it to me, and the skag was halfway to Jack.  
"JACK! SHOOT THE JAW!" I yelled, flinging the gun towards Jack. Once again, the gun crashed into the floor away from the original intended target. I hope that gun doesn't break after being dropped a couple of times.  
Jack scrabbled to grab the gun, the skag already having it's weird jaw open wide to try and bite him. Jack had difficulty lifting the gun and keeping it steady, but fired it at the jaw as I had told him to do.  
The gun had been left on the acid mod, the bullet lodging itself in one side of the open jaw, the jaw sizzling and the right side of the jaw falling onto the floor a moment later. The skag kept going, roaring in pain as it still vainly tried to bite Jack's arm.  
It couldn't wrap it's mouth around his arm, due to missing one half of it's jaw. But it did get three of it's teeth into his skin, tearing down his arm from his elbow. It left three nasty lines of red on his previously unmarred skin.  
"AAH!" Jack cried out in pain, dropping the gun and holding onto his arm as he backed up very quickly from the confused and in pain creature.  
"Jack! Come this way!" I yelled, hoping to run and stop anything worse happening to him. A hand on my shoulder stopped me from running towards him, seeing that it was Chris.  
"Don't worry, I got this"  
Chris dug into his pocket for something, flinging it towards the creature. It was a incendiary grenade, blowing up the rest of the skag's head. I never would have guessed that Chris was a good aim with his hyperactive attitude.  
"Alright! One problem down!" Jack said, making his way over to the rest of us. I was surprised at how chipper he was on the situation, despite him having three pretty deep cuts on his arm.  
The Omega had joined our group, abandoning the truck. A whole lot of people looked like they wanted to hug people, but that could come later. I was busy trying not to smell any of the very strong smelling Beta, and it was getting really hard when Jack had decided to hug me once he had gotten close enough to do so.  
"I knew ye guys'd find us!" Jack said, a bright smile on his face as he tightened his hug on me.  
"Hugging can come later, we're not out of the woods yet" Connor said, and I couldn't have agreed more with him.  
"But hugs are nice..."  
"Later Chris" PJ said, looking around him.  
A quick scan told me that the majority of the bandits had managed to get themselves killed during the small time in the death rally, only having two trucks left. One truck had a group of eight on it, the other had about four people.  
This death rally sounded so much more dangerous than this.  
"WAIT A MOMENT! IS THAT..." Bossanova said, not realising he had pushed the button for the loud speaker. He was peering down from the rotating platform above us, looking at Mark. "CHANGE OF PLANS! KILL ALL OF THEM BESIDES THE RED HAIRED OMEGA! HE'S MINE!"  
Mark looked horrified, moving closer to us. My blood boiled at the audacity for this son of a bitch to claim someone as theirs. A quick glance to the other men of the motel proved that the rest also felt the same way.  
"Come down 'ere and fight like a man ya fucking coward!" Jack yelled up at him, flashing him the middle finger while he was at it. After he had said that, a whole bunch of the rest of our group started to shout insults at him as well.  
"Screw you!" Appropriate.  
"You're a horrible person!" Um...  
"Get a job you hippy!" Guys, that isn't...  
"Fuck you!" Ah, a classic.  
"Go fuck a duck!" Oh my god Chris.  
"Chris, why the heck would you say that? He might actually do it"  
"Guys, get ready" Troye said, pointing over at the two remaining trucks that were driving our way. "I think we might have to handle those guys"  
We all tensed our muscles, getting ourselves ready to run or head somewhere else if we had to. I was eternally grateful for the fact they all didn't just run in fear at the first sign of trouble. It's hard to protect a group of people if they are all in different places after all.

Indeed, the two trucks were heading straight for us, just Like Mark had done earlier. One big difference was, these two seemed to be trying to go through one of the entrances into the middle ring. The same one.  
I wonder if the gap was big enough for two trucks?  
I didn't have to wait for my answer, the two trucks colliding both into each other as well as the sides of the small entrance. Both trucks exploded, no doubt the damage being caused to the engines in their brief clash.  
The lot of us stared at the now useless trucks, unsure whether or not that truly had just happened.  
"Did-Did that just happen?"  
"I think it did"  
"It would seem so"  
"But how? Surely they aren't that dumb"  
"Never underestimate 'ow dumb someone can be"  
"Natural selection at it's finest"  
We all then glanced up at Bossanova, unsure what on earth he should do. Heck, what he could do. Literally all his bandits were dead now, and any of the ones not here wouldn't be coming back for a while probably.  
"WHY YOU DIRTY BUNCH OF SKAG PUPS! I'M GONNA... UH..."  
He changed his tone once Jack was aiming the elemental pistol at him, suddenly losing his nerve against us. Heck, he didn't need to know that the gun was not loaded.  
I won't lie, I took pleasure in seeing him squirm.

 **"Who's the pup now?"** I growled at him, looking at the sniveling weasel with a anger I hadn't felt in a long time. **"Why don't you come down here and find out how angry a pack of forgotten wolves can be?"**

All of the boys crowded around me bared their teeth as I said that, feeling like I was surrounded by a pack. Some growled along, echoing their agreement on the subject. It felt sort of weird at first, a unfamiliar feeling.  
What was this?  
 **You feel it don't you? They follow your lead, as one.  
They are your pack. Your very own pack that will kill at command. The one you craved all this time.  
Now, they truly are yours. Both in tongue, and in mind.**  
It felt amazing, like I had a entire army behind me.  
A sorta crybaby muscly dude, a Irish dude who had difficulty with aiming straight, a flamboyant guy who would squeal at the first sight of a spider, a guy who would sing and make his lips sparkle, a guy who ran faster than any other man I had ever seen, A dude who took pleasure in sticking fire crackers down peoples pants, a dude who does gymnastics for fun, a dude who falls over at the mere mention of being unbalanced and a dude who ran in fear from moths.

Despite all their downfalls, they were still my pack. And I wanted no other group of people to call my own.  
It reminded me of what my boss had told me long ago.  
"You don't have to be a Alpha to have a pack of your own" He had said, looking around at our small rag tag group of people at the time. "But when you do have one, it will feel like nothing in the entire world can stop you"  
All of us growling, glaring and baring our teeth at Bossanova proved to be too much, him trying to walk backwards. Which made him fall right off the platform. Great job.  
Unfortunately for us, the fall didn't kill him. He landed on a crate nearby, rolling off it a moment later. He seemed in pain, if his groaning and complaining was any indication.  
"So, what do we do now?" asked Chris, digging around in his pocket. "I've got more grenades if we want to use them to finish him off"  
"Mark? Do ye want to kill 'im?" asked Jack, instantly bringing up the question that I had thought. It was as though we could all feel each others emotions.  
In the instant after that question, we could all feel what Mark was thinking. He didn't. He didn't want anything to do with the disgusting man. He felt as though Bossanova would take pleasure in seeing Mark kill him.

"No, let someone else do it" Mark said, despite the fact we all knew he was going to say that. "I wouldn't get within ten feet of him even if I had to cut my own balls off"  
Well, that was a bit extreme. But, I suppose that was Mark's way of conveying his emotions on the situation.  
"I want to kill him" I confessed, looking fully towards the still wriggling mess that Bossanova was. I was worried that if we took too long, that he would escape and we would all lose our chance.  
"Yes, we could feel that" Dan told me, patting me strongly on the shoulder. That just affirmed in my mind that we could all feel each others emotions. "I say go for it"  
Huh. To be honest, I was partly expecting the cliche thing. You know, the whole "No, don't kill them! You're not a bad person!".  
Well, that would make them all hypocrites in this situation anyway. I had killed a whole bunch of people already. Mainly bandits, but still.  
It felt great that they weren't like that. They really simply had the whole "No, this dude deserves to die" and I loved it.  
"You guys get the truck up and running" I said, beginning to make my way over to Bossanova. "I'll handle this"  
None of them responded in words to me, just affirmed with their emotions through this link we now had that they understood perfectly.  
I could hear them all move away, some of them now talking to each other on how to get the truck out of the predicament that we had gotten it stuck in.  
I didn't even need to hurry. By the time I got to Bossanova, he was still complaining and grumbling about how his back hurt.  
His head tilted over to me, suddenly aware of my presence.  
"DON'T YOU DARE HURT ME! I'LL... THAT'S...UM..."  
I didn't want to hear any more of his drivel, lifting my foot to push against the woofer on his chest. At first, I could hear the slow cracking of the woofer, his deep rumbling voice turning into a squeaky one once it was pressed deep enough.  
"STOP! YOU'R-e making a big mistake!"  
 **"Am I?"**  
"Yes! You-OW!"  
Something tells me that crack was not part of his woofer. **Oh well, his ribs were going to break anyway.**  
Suddenly I felt restless. I had no idea why until I paused in my actions of creating a pancake, thinking hard about what the feeling might be.  
 **Some of your pack are frightened.**  
I looked behind me at the group. All of them had stopped mid way in whatever task they were accomplishing, staring up above me at something. Something was going drastically wrong.  
"Ally! Above you!" Phil cried out, pointing up at what they all seemed transfixed on.  
I looked up at what it was, seeing a very sharp long, gigantic spike right above me. Somehow Bossanova had maneuvered the platform he was standing on above me while I was slowly killing him.  
How in the actual-  
"Rot in hell!"  
Something unlatched from the platform, the hulking object no longer being held in place by the long arm that it was attached to.  
I instinctively moved my arm above my head, but I knew just holding back the weight of the platform wouldn't save me from that spike.  
I could feel all the catastrophic emotions rush through me from the group. Only two of them managed to let something out. Dan and Phil.  
"NO!"


	24. (24) Everybody wants to rule the world

Ally's P.O.V.:  
Was I dead? I didn't think so. I could feel every fibre of my being still being tensed for that giant spike to run itself through me. So...what was taking so long?  
I opened my eyes slowly, as though I expected the giant spike to suddenly speed up if I opened my eyes too fast. I could see the giant spike, literally a couple of feet away from my face.  
I could see it moving, but it was moving at one millionth of what it probably should have been. It was as though I had commanded time to slow down in that instant.  
I tried to move my arm to possibly punch it out of the way, but my arm didn't move from it's bracing position above my head. Wait, it did move.  
But at the same speed as everything else, moving achingly slow. At perhaps the same speed that the spike was moving.  
With the speed of my arm versus the speed of the spike, I knew that I would be losing one.  
Had I caused the time to slow down? If so, was there a chance that I could remove the limitation on myself only?  
I don't know what compelled me, but I tried to move my head around to look at what was going on around me. Once again, my head moved achingly slow. The only thing that moved and comprehended what was going on were my eyes and my brain. The entire world was a strange shade of gray, only differing shades of gray being around the place.  
I forced my head to move as much as it could to my left, seeing the motel group all frozen in a similar manner to me. Some were simply staring in shock at the spike, others seemed to be trying to run towards me.  
Mark, Jack and Chris were the ones trying to run towards me. Tyler, Connor and PJ had their eyes covered, trying to block out what might happen in mere moments. Troye was frozen, the situation not triggering a flight or fight response in him yet. So, where were Dan and Phil?  
Twisting my head slightly further, I could see both of them. But something was different for the both of them.  
Unlike the entire gray environment, they were both in colour. They seemed like beacons in a sea of darkness.  
A closer look revealed that Dan's right eye was bright purple, cracks of purple tearing into the black of the rest of his eye. The same eye he had a couple of night ago. His body was covered in some kind of purple hue, his eye pulsing each second that he stood there. Each time it pulsed, he would flinch, and I could feel that he got a stab of pain each time. Blood trickled from his eye, but he ignored it.  
Phil held a hand on Dan's shoulder, and he seemed to have something glowing from his chest. Two parts of his chest in fact, one on each side. Like Dan, they both glowed purple. His body was leaking some kind of black mist, and he had his arm outstretched towards me.  
Phil would open and close his outstretched hand a number of times, grumbling in annoyance each time. He was trying to do something, but failing each time.  
"Would you hurry it up?!" Dan hissed at him, and I could feel his anger and annoyance mixed in with extreme pain. "It's not like I can keep this up all day!"  
"I know that! It's been a while!" Phil grumbled back to him, his forehead creased in concentration. "If I could just-Aha!"  
My body returned to colour, and I no longer had to wait for the agonisingly slow movement for my head or arm. Naturally, my arm wasn't close enough to the spike to deflect it, and simply swung in the air beneath it.  
Just as I completed the futile punch, I noticed my body being covered in a black hue, similar to Dan, yet not quite he same.  
A impossibly strong force suddenly flung me in one direction, backwards and away from the giant spike. I was winded for a brief moment, seeing that I was now completely clear from the danger.  
"She's clear" Phil said, dropping his arm. He was taking giant gulps of air, as though he was having difficulty holding his breath or having difficulty breathing. He coughed violently a moment later, nearly double bent from the coughing that was racking his lungs. He honestly looked like he was going to cough up a lung.  
Dan nodded his head once Phil had affirmed that I was safe, closing his throbbing eye. It took a second or two, but the colour returned to the world around us. It returned so fast, that if you blinked, you would have missed it.  
The spike landed with a giant crash, sending dust and metal being launched from the location where it landed.  
Several people coughed, the dust wreaking havoc on their lungs. I imagine that the one coughing the loudest was Phil no doubt.  
The severity of what just happened suddenly made itself known to me. Dan and Phil had just saved my life.  
"Are you all okay?!" I yelled over the sound of everyone coughing.  
"Yeah, I think we all are!" I heard Mark yell through the dust cloud. "We honestly thought you'd be the one that was hurt!"  
The dust didn't stay long, and I could affirm with my own two eyes that everyone was indeed alright.  
I took a couple of deep breaths in, looking at where I was standing moments before. It was a wreck, and no doubt even the sturdy body of a Alpha would have been utterly destroyed.  
A sudden new wave of nervousness came from one of my pack members, and I was instantly annoyed. Just how many things were going to go wrong in half an hour?!  
"Ally! He's getting away!" Chris yelled, pointing over to where Bossanova had been moments before.  
I turned my head, seeing that Chris was correct. Bossanova had used the chaos of the platform to try and escape under everyone's noses.  
"Jack! Throw me the gun!" I yelled to the green haired man, hoping to nail the bandit boss long before he would be clear. Sure, it wouldn't be quite as painful as I had originally planned for him, but it would be better than that weasel of a creature being alive.  
Jack nearly threw the gun, when a very, very calm voice said something.  
"Don't worry little ones, I think you'll find that you won't need it"  
I froze, the eerily calm and mocking tones of the voice all to familiar. The voice was different, but a voice changer could easily achieve that result. It sounded like a exact copy of the tone that my boss always had.  
And, the person was right behind me.  
The others in my pack could sense my fear, and they all turned to the unfamiliar voice unconsciously.  
I considered elbowing the person in the face, but if they had a gun, we could be very easily shot before all of us escaped.  
"Ow! Who the hell are you-  
My gaze traveled back to the bandit boss, seeing a fully clothed ninja holding him up by the back of his shirt. It almost looked like he was holding a child and he didn't really like the idea of touching the bandit boss. The ninja (Was it a ninja? I couldn't tell) started to calmly walk back over to the lot of us, holding the kicking and fussy boss calmly.  
The person behind me moved himself to be in front of me, smiling a somewhat condescending and mocking smile at me. He towered over me, his curly hair and pitch black clothing surprising me. In fact, his hair was so curly, it seemed to get in his way a couple of times.  
His smell was a obvious strong scent that belonged to a Alpha, and he wasn't even trying to hide it. Basil and Veal.  
"Well hello my dear" The person said, trying to take my hand and kiss the back of it. "A real honour to meet one of your kind"  
"And what is that supposed to mean?" I asked, withdrawing my hand before he could kiss it. He seemed to find it amusing that I removed my hand, smiling even wider when I did so.  
"Why, female Alpha are quite rare don't you know" The man said, doing a very exaggerated bow towards me. "And that display of power just now was exquisite in every way"  
"Which one? The death rally clusterfuck or the pack coming together and intimidating Bossanova?" I asked, looking even more confused at the guy. He seemed awfully strange, even for a Alpha.  
"Why, both of them of course" He chuckled, his eyes not leaving my own. "And it seemed to come so naturally to you, being the leader that is"  
"Experience does that"  
"Indeed it does" He chuckled once more, now turning his eyes over to my pack. All of my pack had moved closer to me, threatened by this new possible danger. "Well hello~ I recognise one of these faces! Hello Mark~"  
I could feel Mark get visibly uncomfortable with the strangers gaze, placing a hand onto my shoulder for support. It felt like the hand on my shoulder was more to support him, but he might argue with you if you were to ask him.  
To my surprise, Mark's hand no longer trembled as he had his hand there. A feeling of happiness washed over me, some of my pack being confused about why I was happy. I assured them through my thoughts that it had nothing to do with the stranger in front of us.  
To anyone looking at us, these transferred emotions simply looked like glances at each other, along with the occasional nod or shake of the head. Nothing else.  
"So, who are you?" Asked Connor, shifting himself into a more comfortable position.  
"Good question" The stranger said, smiling cockily at him. "But wouldn't most people say their name first?"  
"I guess I'm not most people then" Connor said, his previously calm face turning into a frown. "I don't think I trust you enough to just randomly tell you my name"  
The stranger laughed, his curious and mocking smile never leaving his face. He raised an eyebrow as he looked over to me.  
"Did you train them all to be this way?"  
My entire pack grew angry, everyone baring their teeth and growling at him minus me.  
"I didn't "train" them at all" I said, my arms crossed over my chest. "They have their own personalities, and I'm not going to change them because of other people disapproving"  
I could feel my pack welling with pride, some of them sporting their own proud smiles. Jack, who was close to me, slipped the elemental gun into my hand, in case I needed it.  
The stranger smiled wider, if that was even possible, enjoying our feisty attitude to the fullest.  
"Yes, that's good" He commented, looking over us all. "You're a new pack, but one that has potential to survive so much"  
The other stranger, the one in ninja robes, finally finished his long and slow trek back to us. Bossanova seemed so busy trying to escape his grip, that he didn't realise at first when his friend changed his attention to him.  
"Now tell me, do you not know the rule that comes with getting your butt kicked?" The stranger asked him, tapping him lightly on the forehead. "You get on your knees and beg, and maybe people will forgive you"  
"Fuck you!" Bossanova said, trying to spit in his eyes. The idiot didn't even realise that his mask would be in the way when he spat.  
Despite the fact he didn't actually spit in his eyes, this seemed to make a big difference for the stranger and his friend.  
"I see" The stranger said, his eyebrows slightly raised, his mouth still set in that condescending smirk. "Unfortunately for you, I don't have as much patience as this group"  
And so, he pulled out a gun from his hip holster, shooting Bossanova between the eyes.  
A moment of hesitation passed through my group, before the entire group had shocked and confused emotions.  
"Did he just kill him?!" Was the first and foremost thought, to which I had simply answered that he had.  
The ninja holding up his body flung the now dead person to the side, like a piece of trash. I mean, he was a piece of trash, but man. He didn't even hesitate. He had been covered in Bossanova's blood, his black ninja outfit now sporting some dark red patches everywhere.  
The ninja glared at his friend, a unspoken argument coming from his eyes.  
"Calm down Ninja Brian, you can clean your outfit later" The stranger said, giving away his friends name away easily. How he was able to understand his friend without word puzzled me for a bit. Maybe they were part of a pack. "I mean, heck, you have another mask under that one right now"  
His friend continued to glare at him.  
"What do you mean it's not the same? Yes it is"  
Glaring.  
"We're not having this argument again"  
Glaring.  
"Fine, I'm sorry"  
Glaring.  
"What do you mean it's not good enough?!"  
Yeah, this dude was now no longer in the dangerous category. Him and his friend were making all of my pack laugh inwardly, some of them just laughing out loud.  
"Never mind, we'll finish this later" The stranger finished with his friend, turning his somewhat frazzled attitude back to us.  
Once he looked back to us, his calm demeanor and mocking smile returned. But the damage had already been done. We knew just how much he and his friend are not actually intimidating or frightening in the slightest.  
Well, besides shooting a dude for threatening to spit in his eye. There was that.  
"So, why are you actually here?" I asked, deciding to get at the heart of the matter before he would get himself lost on another one of his mocking tirades or his silly comedic routine with his friend. "Surely not just to talk to us briefly and shoot some random dude"  
"Of course not my dear" He said, placing his hands on his hips arrogantly. Him calling me "My dear" was starting to annoy to me. "I'm here to make a deal"  
"What kind of deal?" Asked Dan, his eyes narrowing at the mere mention of a shady deal.  
"Oh, a very simple one" He said, using his hands to dramatically emphasise his point. "The kind that allows you all to leave Hollow point"  
I could feel a whole bunch of nervous energy coming from my pack. Some of the group were not sure about leaving Hollow point, while others wanted to jump at this chance.  
"Give us a moment, we need to discuss this" I said, with the stranger nodding his head in response.  
The entire group all had the same reason for not wanting to leave Hollow point, they conveyed. They didn't trust this guy and wanted to know why on earth he would be helping us out. Not to mention, why would we need his help to get out?  
"Why would we need your help to go out of Hollow Point?" Phil asked, somewhat cryptically. Despite the way he had asked it, the stranger seemed to understand what he was trying to ask.  
"Because, the border guard has this silly little rule" He explained. "That you must have three Alpha if you are leaving as a group"  
So, without this guy and his friend Ninja Brian, we would be unable to leave. Funnily enough, I couldn't smell if Ninja Brian was a Alpha. In fact, I couldn't smell any scent coming from him at all. He must be really good at hiding his scent.  
That, or he was one of those rare people who could fake scents naturally. That would be terrifying.  
The constant looking at Ninja Brian caused him to stare back at me, and I was unsure why I was staring at him in the first place.  
"And why would you want to travel with us in the first place?" Asked Tyler, bringing back my attention to the discussion.  
"Well, the simple version is that I'm bored"  
"Because you're bored?!"  
"Why not? I've been stuck in this hell hole of a place for too long" The stranger said, shrugging his shoulders. "And you're the first group that looks like they'll survive longer than twenty minutes and won't stab me in the back for a slice of cheese"  
That's a weird euphemism. But, I suppose it works.  
"What is your name?" I asked, causing him to smile widely at me.  
"It's Danny"  
I did a quick check of my group, to make sure they were all in agreement on this current conundrum. They were, all giving me their own go ahead.  
"I'm Ally" I said, holding my hand to shake his hand. "Pleasure to be working with you"  
He grinned almost like a Cheshire Cat would, weaving his long bony and warm fingers into mine.  
"Pleasure's all mine"

 **End of phase one**


	25. (25) Phase two characters

Name: Allison Forrey (Nickname: Ally)  
Age: 18  
Birthday: 6th of January  
Looks: Long blonde hair with blue eyes, relatively skinny with long legs  
Crush: Mark, Jack, Dan, Phil, PJ, Chris and Ninja Brian (She gets crushes easily)  
Sexuality: Bisexual  
Former relationships: None  
Friends: Mark, Jack, Dan, Phil, PJ, Chris, Tyler, Troye, Connor, Danny(Ehh... Sorta) and Ninja Brian  
Enemies: ? ?(Former boss)  
Family: Kaleb (Working for a gun company(Brother)), Willimena (Mother) and Rory (Father)  
Class: Alpha  
Element: Best at using shock element  
Weapon: Elemental pistol (In this part of the story)  
Fave colour: Magenta  
Fave food: Sweets  
Hobbies: Hanging with friends, training, listening to music and dancing  
Smell: Scented candles (What she smells like to other people)  
Power: Twice as strong as most Alpha

* * *

Name: Mark (Nickname: Markiplier, Markimoo)  
Age: 27  
Birthday: 28th of June  
Looks: Short black hair with a red Mohawk (Referred to as his "floof"), brown eyes, average height, muscular body  
Crush: Ally  
Sexuality: Straight (Might go bi for really handsome men)  
Former relationships: Bossanova and Danny  
Friends: Jack, Tyler, Dan, Phil, PJ, Chris, Connor, Troye, Ally, Ninja Brian, Danny(Sort of), Wade and Bob (Last two are deceased)  
Enemies: Former relationships and violent people  
Family: Two mothers, one brother (His father got remarried)  
Class: Omega  
Element: Works well with Slag  
Weapon: None (In this part)  
Fave colour: Dark blue  
Fave food: Pudding  
Hobbies: Hanging with friends, doing chores, solving puzzles and singing  
Smell: Pine and Whiskey (What he smells like to other people)  
Power: Unable to faint from pain

* * *

Name: Sean McLoughlin (Nickname: Jack)  
Age: 26  
Birthday: 7th of February  
Looks: Short brown hair with a green Mohawk, blue eyes, average height, skinny  
Crush: Ally  
Sexuality: Straight (Jokes about liking men)  
Former relationships: Fiona  
Friends: Mark, Tyler, Dan, Phil, PJ, Chris, Connor, Troye, Ally, Ninja Brian, Danny, Wade and Bob (Last two are deceased)  
Enemies: People who try to take advantage of weaker people  
Family: Four siblings(Two sisters and two brothers)  
Class: Beta  
Element: Likes using Corrosive weapons  
Weapon: Elemental pistol shared with Ally (In this part)  
Fave colour: Dark green  
Fave food: Ice cream, cake and sweet things  
Hobbies: Eating, dancing and making puns  
Smell: Cookies and Lettuce (What he smells like to other people)  
Power: Able to handle any weapon he uses

* * *

Name: Tyler Oakley (Nickname: Tyler, Tilly)  
Age: 27  
Birthday: 22nd of March  
Looks: Styled hair(Changes hair colour often), blue eyes, short height and is pretty skinny  
Crush: Dan (Doesn't act on it) and Danny (Only a little)  
Sexuality: Gay  
Former relationships: None  
Friends: Mark, Jack, Dan, Phil, PJ, Chris, Connor, Troye, Ally, Ninja brian and Danny  
Enemies: Doesn't really like to make enemies  
Family: Mother (Known as Queen Jackie)  
Class: Beta  
Element: Doesn't like hurting people  
Weapon: Doesn't like guns or knives  
Fave colour: Purple  
Fave food: Candies  
Hobbies: Joking around, practicing speeches and cooking  
Smell: Cotton candy and lollipops (What he smells like to other people)  
Power: Able to persuade someone into following his will

* * *

Name: Daniel Howell (Nickname: Dan, Daniel the spaniel)  
Age: 25  
Birthday: 11th of June  
Looks: Short brown hair styled to his left, brown eyes, very tall and a skinny frame  
Crush: Ally  
Sexuality: Straight  
Former relationships: None  
Friends: Mark, Jack, Tyler, Phil, PJ, Chris, Connor, Troye and Allison (Doesn't trust Ninja brian or Danny yet)  
Enemies: Inconsiderate people and Geese (Also moths)  
Family: Unknown  
Class: Omega  
Element: Works best with flame  
Weapon: None (In this part)  
Fave colour: Black  
Fave food: Maltesers  
Hobbies: Joking around, wrestling (He loses every time) and being perverted  
Smell: Chocolate and Beetroot (What he smells like to other people)  
Power: Able to slow down time

* * *

Name: Phil Lester (Nickname: Phil, Philip)  
Age: 29  
Birthday: 30th of January  
Looks: Short black hair styled to his right, Blue eyes, very tall and a skinny frame  
Crush: Ally  
Sexuality: Straight  
Former relationships: Janey  
Friends: Mark, Jack, Tyler, Dan, PJ, Chris, Connor, Troye and Allison (Not sure what to think of Danny and Ninja Brian)  
Enemies: Anyone who is rude or violent  
Family: Mother and father  
Class: Omega  
Element: Works best with flame  
Weapon: None (In this part)  
Fave colour: Blue  
Fave food: Salty popcorn  
Hobbies: Joking around, making puns (He loses every time) and being told off by Dan by making a bad comment/pun  
Smell: Apple juice and caramel (What he smells like to other people)  
Power: Telekinesis

* * *

Name: PJ Liguori (Nickname: PJ, Peej)  
Age: 25  
Birthday: 11th of December  
Looks: Curly black hair, green eyes, very tall and a medium build  
Crush: Allison  
Sexuality: Straight  
Former relationships: None  
Friends: Mark, Jack, Tyler, Dan, Phil, Chris, Connor, Troye and Allison  
Enemies: Anyone who is rude or violent  
Family: Mother and father  
Class: Beta  
Element: Works best with explosive  
Weapon: None (In this part)  
Fave colour: Red  
Fave food: Cheesecake  
Hobbies: Gymnastics, drinking tea and painting with Chris  
Smell: Honey and Cinnamon (What he smells like to other people)  
Power: Able to climb anything (Gymnastics)

* * *

Name: Christopher Kendall (Nickname: Chris)  
Age: 28  
Birthday: 2nd of October  
Looks: Slightly wavy black hair, brown eyes, very tall and a skinny build  
Crush: Ally  
Sexuality: Straight  
Former relationships: None  
Friends: Mark, Jack, Tyler, Dan, Phil, PJ, Connor, Troye, Allison, Ninja Brian and Danny  
Enemies: Anyone who is rude or violent  
Family: Mother and father  
Class: Beta  
Element: Works best with explosive  
Weapon: None (In this part)  
Fave colour: Orange  
Fave food: Cheesecake  
Hobbies: Making dirty jokes, Pulling pranks and painting with PJ  
Smell: Lavender and Rice (What he smells like to other people)  
Power: Able to create explosives with anything he finds (ANYTHING)

* * *

Name: Connor Franta (Nickname: Connor)  
Age: 23  
Birthday: 12th of September  
Looks: Slightly wavy brown hair, green eyes, very tall and a medium build  
Crush: Tyler (Formerly) and Ninja Brian  
Sexuality: Gay  
Former relationships: None  
Friends: Mark, Jack, Tyler, Dan, Phil, PJ, Chris, Troye, Allison, Ninja brian and Danny  
Enemies: Anyone who is rude or violent  
Family: Mother and father  
Class: Beta  
Element: Works best with slag  
Weapon: None (In this part)  
Fave colour: White  
Fave food: Fruit  
Hobbies: Running, dancing and singing  
Smell: Lemons and cumin (What he smells like to other people)  
Power: Able to run for miles without getting tired (Runs faster than a normal human)

* * *

Name: Troye Mellet (Nickname: Troye)  
Age: 21  
Birthday: 5th of June  
Looks: Dark brown hair, green eyes, short height and a small build  
Crush: None  
Sexuality: Gay  
Former relationships: Scooter  
Friends: Mark, Jack, Tyler, Dan, Phil, PJ, Chris, Connor, Allison, Ninja Brian and Danny  
Enemies: Anyone who takes advantage of the weak  
Family: Mother and father (Plus three siblings)  
Class: Omega  
Element: Works best with shock  
Weapon: None (In this part)  
Fave colour: Green  
Fave food: Pasta  
Hobbies: Singing, making people smile and spending time with friends  
Smell: Mints and Aloe Vera (What he smells like to other people)  
Power: Can heal any wound by singing a certain song and kissing the wounded area (Does not bring people back to life)

* * *

Name: ? ? (Nickname: Ninja Brian, Brian)  
Age: ?  
Birthday: ? of ?  
Looks: Picture, right person (I mean, he's the only one in the ninja outfit XD)  
Crush: ? and ?  
Sexuality: ?  
Former relationships: None  
Friends: ?  
Enemies: Everyone  
Family: ?  
Class: ?  
Element: Anything  
Weapon: Daggers  
Fave colour: ?  
Fave food: ?  
Hobbies: Ninja stuff  
Smell: ? and ? (What he smells like to other people)  
Power: Ninja

* * *

Name: ? ? (Nickname: Danny Sexbang, Danny, Dan)  
Age: 37  
Birthday: 14th of March  
Looks: Picture, left person  
Crush: Ally  
Sexuality: Straight?  
Former relationships: Mark  
Friends: Mark, Jack, Tyler, Dan, Phil, PJ, Chris, Connor, Troye, Allison and Ninja Brian  
Enemies: Whoever he feels like  
Family: ?  
Class: Alpha  
Element: Works best with flame  
Weapon: Squire pistol (In this part)  
Fave colour: Bright baby blue  
Fave food: Cake  
Hobbies: Taunting people, arguing with Ninja Brian, Jewing around  
Smell: Basil and Veal (What he smells like to other people)  
Power: His eyes are twice as good as a normal Alpha


	26. (26) On the road again

Ally's P.O.V.:

"Are you guys ready to go?" I asked the two men nearby me, slinging my make shift back pack onto my back.  
"Can we have a moment? This place has special meaning to us after all" Mark said, jabbing a thumb over to the now dingy motel.  
"Of course" I responded, leaning myself against a lamp post nearby and getting myself comfortable. I knew this might take a while, their difficulty with saying goodbye being obvious.  
Both Mark and Jack looked over to the Little hole in the wall motel, but said nothing as they looked at the previously well looked after place. The polished wood still had it's shine, the only parts looking different were the broken windows and the torn off door. I felt partly responsible for the door, so I instead turned my head to look down the road.  
I felt the sad emotions from Mark and Jack, not even needing to look at either of them. To both of them, this place had emotions and memories that spanned for years. I'd only been in the place for about, I dunno, a week. So I didn't share the sentimental value on the place.  
But, even I could see the amount of time these guys had spent on keeping this place safe, tidy and cared for. It was a pleasant and warm place, so I was a little upset at the fact we would no longer be staying here.  
But, Hollow point was no place for these guys. As much as I didn't want to be tracked, I wasn't going to endanger my boys just for that.  
Wait, when did I start calling them my boys? Uh...  
"Alright, we're ready to go" Mark said, picking up his own bag. He took a deep breath in, his muscly chest rising and falling as he did so. It's funny to think that he has so much muscle, but is weaker than me in terms of strength.  
Jack already had his backpack on his back, and moved in line with his companion to signify he was ready.  
We began walking to the checkpoint which we had all agreed to meet, our packs full of anything we considered worth taking from our old home. This didn't include things like money or riches, those wouldn't really help us. If anything, they would make us all a target.  
I could feel Jack asking me something without words. He was wondering about some bandits that were watching us from the shadows.  
I glanced in the direction he had told me about, indeed seeing some bandits looking like rats from the darkness at us. Their eyes gave away their fear, looking at us with some sort of morbid curiosity rather than any other plan to attack or berate us.  
It didn't surprise me, we had gained quite the reputation in this small town from our clearly one sided brawl at the death rally last night. So now instead of thinking of us as a target, they were worried our attention would turn to them, endangering their lives.  
To Jack and Mark, this probably felt weird. They were used to being the ones that had to cower in fear, not be the ones that frightened others.  
I could feel Mark and Jack become awkward and uncomfortable with the gazes, their eyes instead turning to look at their feet.  
"Keep your head up Mark" I whispered in a low tone to the Omega that walked between me and Jack. "You don't look very leader like"  
"But I'm not the leader" Mark whispered back, not bringing his eyes up from his feet.  
It was a age old trick that many leaders of packs used, having someone that looked intimidating and scary to be the leader rather than the actual leader. This prevented the pack leader from getting killed first, losing the person who could either plan or take control of the group well enough to survive. It also made sure that when the actual leader took charge, most attacking groups would be taken by surprise and lose their edge.  
Jack was not good as a substitute leader, his energetic attitude and the way he would babble would instantly make people assume that he wasn't the leader of our group. It didn't even matter if he was the actual leader of our little ragtag group, most people would look at him and decide that it couldn't be him.  
Tyler was the one who had told me he was absolutely dead frightened of the mere idea of leading the group. So, I had decided it was a bad idea to even consider him for the role.  
Dan had the height and occasional brooding look that might give the impression that he was leader material, but the fact he was bad at improvising on the spot made it obvious that it couldn't be him.  
Phil, well, let's face it. He doesn't have a mean bone in his body. Even when he was trying to have a rude or snarky attitude, you could see from a mile away that he was faking it. Horribly.  
PJ was the kind of person who also had the height and deep raspy voice that some might assume would come with being a leader. But I could see that he got nervous the moment anyone remotely tried to intimidate him, so he was out.  
Chris also might have been a leader, his joking and silly attitude would have been quite normal. I had seen many that had such a attitude. But, Chris was the kind that went a bit too far with his jokes. He would get us into trouble if he was the leader.  
Connor didn't really want to be the leader, afraid he would get one of us killed. And because his afraid emotions would be completely present on his face, that would make him a bad leader. Not him.  
Troye was one of the very few that had offered to be the stand in leader. But, like Jack, nobody would look at him (The shortest dude in the group) as a potential leader. So, sadly, he couldn't be it.

And thus, I had decided that Mark was the best person to take charge, his muscly stature and deep voice distracting people from the small female of the group that most people would overlook. Mark smelling like me also helped, him giving the impression in every sense of the word that he was the Alpha leader of the group. I would blend into the group, hiding my scent all the way.  
The only problem, was that Mark was not very keen to hurt people.  
"Stop looking at your feet" I sighed, still speaking in a whisper. "Seriously, nobody's gonna believe you're the leader"  
"Like I said, I'm not the leader" Mark responded, still refusing to look away from his feet. "I don't really like the thought of being it either"  
"I'll communicate with the group about what we are doing every step of the way" I whispered, now getting slightly irritated. "Trust me, I won't leave you in the dark"  
"But I-  
 **"I said to keep your head up!"** I snapped at him, his head snapping up like I had just barked at him like a army officer. He kept his head stock still, afraid to move it any more in case I would snap at him again.  
After a couple of seconds with his head kept statically kept in that position, I decided that enough was enough.  
"Relax your head, and act like you are the leader" I said, gently rubbing his back. I felt completely bad for yelling at him, but I knew he had to do this for our plan to work out. "I'll do everything else"  
He turned his head to me, his soft brown eyes betraying how nervous and scared he was. God, he looked like a giant puppy that I wanted to hug.  
He switched over to our internal communication, asking me if he really only needed to act like the leader. I nodded my head, while also communicating through our minds that I really expected nothing more from him. Jack helped along the convincing, giving Mark some mental encouragement.  
" _Trust me dude_ " Jack thought, looking over to his slightly taller friend. " _If anyone can do this, you can_ "  
Mark nodded his head, closing his eyes and taking another deep breath. When he opened his eyes, the expression in them had changed completely. No longer was the scared and flighty emotions, instead being replaced with a calm and calloused one. Confidence, a slightly bored look to them and a slight amount of arrogance. Perfect.  
Mark must have no doubt felt my approving emotions, his emotions showing that he was welling with pride. Like I had praised him.  
" _Woah now!_ "Jack thought, a cheeky attitude even in his thoughts. " _Don't get too excited there Markimoo! Ya might start smiling without realising it!"_  
Mark turned his head to Jack, sending a whole bunch of joking emotions. To anyone else, it would have looked like Mark was frowning at Jack. Instead, they were cracking jokes about how ridiculous the other looked.  
I looked ahead of us, seeing the somehow still intact truck we had procured from the death rally. It didn't look that worse for wear compared to last night, and made a mental note to have PJ as the backup driver if Mark was not available for driving. He had done well to get the truck to this spot without even getting a single scratch on it.  
Dan and Phil stood outside the drivers cabin, glaring at any bandit who dared to even get close to them or the truck. Well, Dan was properly glaring. Phil looked like he was trying to glare, but you could see it was fake. Like, imagine a three year old trying to fake a frown at you, and that would describe quite easily how he looked at that moment.  
I could see Chris and PJ in the drivers cabin, splashing a orange and brown mixture on themselves.  
Good, they had gotten the fake scents I had told them to do. That should mask their scent enough that the guards at the border would not smell them in their heat.  
I sniffed in the direction of Mark and Jack, wanting to double check their scents. Mark smelling like me still? Check. Jack smelling like some kind of weird Alpha? Sort of check.  
To me, Jack still smelled vaguely like his heat version. To anyone else, the traces of his heat were well hidden underneath the weird mixture of spices and meat.  
As the three of us neared the truck, Dan and Phil noticed us from their position, and I could see their frowns start to break and smile without meaning to.  
" _Try not to smile when you see us_ " I thought, making sure that both boys put their frowns back on before I continued. " _Goons don't smile at their bosses_ "  
" _Aren't we pretending to be pack?_ " Asked PJ through thought, him stepping out of the truck as I finished my explanation to the two Omega.  
" _We'll be better off if nobody knows we're in a pack_ " I explained, making sure not to be the only one to move my head when I explained things. If some random bandit only saw me moving my head as I looked at people, some bandits might be smart enough to understand that we were a pack and that I was the leader. " _If they know we are a pack, they'll automatically assume that we are constantly thinking our plans to each other even if we aren't_ "  
" _Aren't we doing that though?"_ Asked Chris, a cheeky grin across his face. " _Thinking our plans?_ "  
" _Don't go and get cocky now_ " I light heartedly chastised him. " _If we're dead, you won't get to make more jokes"_  
" _Oh no, what a horror_ " PJ jokingly thought, jabbing his friend in the ribs. I could feel the pain emotions coming from Chris, and PJ immediately started to apologise to him.  
Tyler, Troye and Connor came into view from around the corner. Once they saw us, Tyler and Conner were about to wave at me with a smile on their faces, but I gently reminded him of the same thing that I did to everyone else. Goons aren't friendly to their bosses.  
" _Aww, but we brought ice creams from the store down the street"_ Connor thought to us all, patting his back pack to signify that he was the one who had it. " _Are we not allowed to share them?_ "  
Despite everything I had just told them, apparently ice cream was the one that won out. They all turned to look at me, their eyes pleading for the cold treat.  
" _Please?_ "  
" _I'm sure I have seen bandits eat ice cream before_ "  
" _Come on, I'll love you forever"_  
Oh for Pete's sake.  
I was about to tell them no, but they all looked so happy and excited. Oh, my emotions just couldn't handle it.  
" _Geez, fine_ " I thought, sighing inwardly to myself. " _But you guys have to give me one too"_  
I could feel them all cheering in their head, some people even raising their arms in triumph. I really need to teach them not to act out their emotions if they are trying to be stealthy and hide things from people.  
The boys must have been hungry, the majority wolfing down the food long before they started to melt. Me and Connor were the only ones who didn't, looking at everyone like they were insane.  
" _It didn't even look like you guys tasted it"_ I said, munching on mine slowly.  
I could feel everyone laughing, and involuntarily smiled myself. Goddamit, their bad habit is rubbing off on me.  
" _Mark, take the wheel of the truck and let's get going"_ I thought, deciding that we should get underway. " _I don't think staying around here will do us much good"_  
" _You don't want us to wait for you to finish your ice cream?"_ Mark asked, his emotions being very clear back to me.  
" _Nah, I'll be fine_ "

* * *

We rolled up to the checkpoint, seeing that both Brian and Danny were waiting for us to arrive. From the looks of it, Danny was busy taunting the guard that was guarding the gate that blocked us from leaving through this entrance. Something about his wife?  
" _Remember everyone_ " I thought to all the group before we left the truck. " _The Beta don't walk anywhere near one of the border guards, Mark does the talking and communication with the guards, while I tell him what to do and I certainly don't want anyone else conveying their emotions unless there is a good reason for it"_  
The group responded with each individual acknowledgment, us all filing out of the truck. The small group of weird smelling Beta lined up at the back of our group, sticking behind Dan, Phil, Troye and me.  
" _Are any of you guys feeling the horny part of your heat yet?"_ I thought to the boys at the back, making sure not to move my head to look at them.  
" _Not me"_  
" _Nope"_  
" _Just a fever 'ere"_  
" _Same here"_  
" _Going good with me"_  
Thank god for that. The only reason why they could come out of the truck was because of the part of their heat they were in. We needed to get them out of Hollow point before they jumped into the horny stage.  
" _How are we going to handle the horny part once we leave?"_ Asked Jack, his emotions giving a flash of pain at one point when he had a stab of pain. Probably a headache.  
" _I think the safest bet is to give you guys suppressants once we leave"_ Troye thought, and I conveyed my emotions that I agreed with him.  
The five boys groaned inwardly, and I could see some of them rolling their eyes.  
" _Don't roll your eyes!"_ I snapped in my mind, each boy bringing their eyes back at pretty much the same time. _"And Troye's right, it wouldn't be safe if you guys walked around with your heat in full swing, even in the desert with just us"_  
 _"But it hurts like hell to use them!"_ Chris whined in his head, pulling a face.  
 _"Would you rather have your heat around that Danny guy?"_ Asked Phil, and he involuntarily looked over to Chris as he did so.  
 _"I would! Woof~"_ Tyler thought, raising an eyebrow seductively.  
 _"Guys, stop please"_ I reminded them, sighing inwardly. It was going to take a while for them to remember of their own volition. _"Chris, fix your face"_  
 _"It's too late for Chris to fix his face"_ Dan thought, a grin starting to spread over his and other people's faces. _"He was born like that"_  
 ** _"I swear to god I'm going to break all of your faces if you don't-_**  
 _"Ally, help"_ I felt Mark say, but he didn't turn his face back to look at me. Good boy. _"I don't know how I'm supposed to act and they guys are coming up"_  
 _"Take a very relaxed stance, almost bored"_ I thought, thinking about how my old boss would act. _"Talk calmly and bored, like you don't think of anyone as a threat"_  
Mark did as I had told him, allowing his shoulders to drop slightly, digging his hands into his pockets. He kept his shoulders back and his head up and regarded Danny with a bored nod of his head.  
"And here they are" Danny said, using his head to indicate towards Mark and the rest of us. His condescending smile was back. "Didn't I tell you they would?"  
The guard was obviously glad that Danny had stopped taunting him, now looking over to Mark. By his mannerisms, he was not impressed with Mark's attitude.  
"So, where's the third Alpha?" Asked the guard, looking over the lot of us. He apparently didn't think that Mark smelled enough like a Alpha, or he was one of those people who thought a sweet smell could not belong to a Alpha.  
 _"Tell him it's you, but do it with a calm voice"_ I thought to Mark. _"But sound ever so slightly offended"_  
"That would be me" Mark told the guard, acting out the perfect voice that I had wanted him to do. Nicely done Mark.

He sniffed the air, giving Mark a strange face.

"You smell pretty girly for a Alpha" The guard said, pulling a face as though Mark smelt horrible. Dude, I smell like that. Dick.  
 _"Get mad at him, get in his personal space"_ I thought, glaring at the guard from underneath my hood. _"But don't raise your voice, lower it"_  
 _"Lower it?"_ Jack asked, looking at me out of the corner of his eye. That movement was already too much, me glaring at him to make him look straight. _"Wouldn't shoutin' be more scary?"_  
 _"Remember when I first came to the motel, and I lowered my voice instead of raising it?"_ I thought to him, keeping my eyes on Mark. _"Which was scarier, the calm voice or the possible shouting?"_  
 _"Good point"_ Jack thought, looking the same way as I was doing.  
Mark didn't pull his hands out of his pocket, slowing moving closer to the guard. He didn't completely get into the guys space, just moving his head into the guards personal space. God, it was perfect.  
 **"Did I ask for your opinion?"** Mark said, his voice becoming quieter than I had ever heard before. And yet, it did the job.  
It terrified the shit out the guard, as well as a whole bunch of the boys around me.  
Despite the whole bunch of conflicting emotions, Mark kept his face and voice the same, waiting.  
"Y-You can go through"  
"I should think so" Mark calmly said, proceeding to now remove himself from the guards personal bubble.  
Danny looked at Mark, smirking his Cheshire like grin at him. He seemed impressed with the way he had dealt with the guard.  
 _"Don't react to Danny"_ I thought, but Mark already seemed to be way ahead of me.  
Mark turned to the lot of us, jabbing his thumb at the truck. I guess he was ready to go already.  
"Let's go"  
Good job Mark. Very good job.


	27. (27) Stronger than you

Ally's P.O.V.:  
"Phil, oh my god-Give me me the axe! I swear, you're going to take someone's head off!"  
"No I won't, I've got a perfectly good grip on it"  
"You nearly dropped it on my foot! And when you swung it you nearly took off Troye's head!"  
I looked over at the two arguing Omega, feeling their emotions run rampant even from five meters away. I didn't really feel it was necessary to get involved with the two of them, Phil was old enough to know when it was getting dangerous. Then again, Troye had decided to take a couple of cautious steps away from Phil, deciding he didn't want to find out by accident how sharp the axe was.  
Our group had stopped for the night out in the barren wastelands of Pandora, deciding that a outcropping of rocks would have to do to shield us from the wind and prying eyes. I had been against the idea of starting a fire, my logic being that it would only bring attention to the lot of us.  
Danny had argued in response that people would already notice our truck in the dark, and how the boys would likely like a hot meal to tide them by in the cold wastes. Or that he didn't like the idea of some random bandit accidentally stepping on one of us and freaking out.  
He had a point, that was true. That didn't mean I liked it though.  
Our entire group of Beta was stuck inside the truck, their headaches and migraines being like waves of pain in my own mind. It was one of the downsides to being part of a pack. They had taken suppressants like I had asked them, but it meant that the lot of them were all stuck with blinding pain.  
And so, that left the Omega part of our clan as well as me to go and collect firewood. None of us felt comfortable leaving Danny with our Beta (Despite Tyler's cheeky comment the previous day) and Mark had volunteered to stay and keep watch.  
"Are you sure you don't want someone else to stay with you as well?" I asked Mark, who was busy reloading the elemental pistol that we had. Jack was the one who usually had the pistol on him, but it was pretty obvious that Jack wouldn't be able to shoot anything in his state (Even with his sometimes flighty accuracy).  
Mark didn't respond at first, looking out the corner of his eye at Danny. Danny was busy leaning against the truck, his gaze and Cheshire like grin directed over to Dan, Phil and Troye. God, I didn't like him.  
" _I get the feeling that he would have done something already if he was planning to"_ Mark thought, continuing to look down the gun and flicking the gun's button to change the mod to the electric version.  
" _No, I think he does whatever he feels like"_ I thought, looking around us. It was becoming a real nagging and annoying thing that I couldn't find Danny's friend. Ninja Brian. " _And I don't know how willing that Ninja pal of his is to try and knock you out and leave with you all knocked out in the back of the truck"_  
Mark took a deep breath in, placing the heavy gun in his lap. He looked back over his shoulder at the lot of restless sleeping Beta behind him.  
He was concerned for them all. Heck, this was probably one of their first times being out in the wastelands with their heat in full swing. Not to mention, these guys couldn't handle the suppressants as well as I could.  
" _You'd rather let Dan and the others go and collect firewood on their own?"_ Mark asked, not taking his eyes off the Beta. Jack grumbled a little in his sleep, readjusting himself before falling promptly back asleep.  
I sighed inwardly, causing Mark to look back over to me with a sympathetic smile.  
 _"If I had my way, I would have us all remain as a group no matter what happens"_ I thought, casting another glance at Dan, Phil and Troye. Both tall British boys were too busy arguing about the axe to realise me and Mark's discussion. Troye on the other hand, had his attention now fixed on the both of us. _"But that's not happening unless we wake up the Beta to come with us out for firewood"  
"Sounds fun" _Mark joked, a grin breaking out on his formerly stoic face. _"We'll have a bunch of crying, moody Beta complaining about everything under the sun"  
"Dude, they'll probably complain about the sun the most" _I joked back, a small chuckle escaping my lips. My laugh turned out to be infectious, Mark sporting a deep gentle chuckle of his own.  
"Something funny happen?"  
Both me and Mark instantly lost our smiles, looking over to Danny, who had decided to divert his attention over to us. Mark's hands had instantly darted over to the gun in his lap, but it only served to make Danny's smile even wider.  
"Now now Mark" Danny tutted him, waggling a finger at him. "And here I thought you and I had such a precious relationship"  
"No we don't" Mark said flatly, his tone taking a annoyed turn. "I don't like you"  
Danny seemed to like the response, looking over to me slyly. I was starting to get the impression that he would be happy no matter what someone told him, twisting it in any way possible to see people squirm.  
"Well, that's not the impression I got back when we made our...deal~" Danny purred, trying to reach out a hand to touch Mark's shoulder. Mark instantly retracted himself from the touch, Danny's hand only reaching into the air. Danny instead shrugged his shoulders, looking over at me instead. "But of course, your leader doesn't know about this, does she?"  
Mark instantly tensed his entire body, glaring over to Danny with scorn on every feature. His emotions were a complete mess, I was unable to tell what on earth he was trying to think.  
"Well, she certainly looks interested now, doesn't she?" Danny purred once more, and I found him to be getting a little too close to me for comforts sake. "I'm sure she'd like to know all about it"  
"YOU-  
"I don't need to know"  
Both of them froze, Danny pausing with his explanation and Mark with his protest.  
"If Mark wants to tell me, he will do so himself" I said, deciding to give Danny a not too gentle shove away from me. He didn't go far, but still looked somewhat surprised with the action. "And if he doesn't, then I don't need to know"  
Mark's emotions finally settled, his face relaxing and he no longer held the gun in a deathly grip. Danny on the other hand, seemed to be utterly upset with the lack luster answer.  
"That's a load of shit" Danny said, his usual teasing and Cheshire like attitude suddenly melting away into a almost childlike attitude. "Nobody reacts like that in this world"  
"I don't think that's why you're so upset" I calmly told him, now realising that the small group of Omega with the axe had started to realise that something was not quite alright over with us. "You are upset because my reaction isn't interesting, because it's boring"  
Danny held my gaze stubbornly, as though he expected me to change my mind or magically take my words back if he stared long enough. I finally decided that enough was enough after a long while, turning to look at Mark.  
"We're quickly going to collect firewood" I explained, proceeding to ignore the taller curly haired man. "If he even twitches wrong, shoot him"  
"You got it" Mark responded, holding the gun securely in his hands.  
I turned over to the small lot of Omega, them all casting uncertain glances over at us.  
"Everything alright over there?" Asked Troye, who I noticed had taken away the axe from Phil.  
"Yup, just a little disagreement"

* * *

I noticed a small group of dead trees all bunched together. They looked perfect to use for the fire we would no doubt be building before long. A glance to the gentle amber glow that was surrounding us all told me that we didn't have long before sundown.  
I was going to point out both these facts to the boys travelling with me, but they spoke up before I could let out a single word. Maybe they had already felt what I was going to say.  
"Hey look guys! I think that those trees would do nicely for our fire" Phil pointed out excitedly, smiling widely at the lot of us. We didn't even have to walk that far, bless our lucky stars.  
"Probably cause they're dead" Dan joked, a grin showing on his face. "Just like my soul"  
Phil let out a small giggle, crinkling his eyes at his friend. God, this guy was adorable.  
And he's literally eleven years older than me. I guess some people get the adorable gene while others get the badass gene.  
Troye moved forward to the lot of trees, experimentally swinging the axe in small arcs towards them. I knew things would go faster if I was the one swinging the axe, but I also knew how annoyed the three boys might get with the assumption that they couldn't do it.  
And so, I let Troye go first. He swung the axe widely away from him, but made sure that he wasn't about to clip or smack into Dan or Phil. When he swung the axe back to the tree, he missed the tree by a couple of centimetres, his balance being off set from the lack of physical presence in the swing.  
"Dammnit.." Troye grumbled under his breath, getting himself upright and preparing for another swing.  
He was not purposely looking at me, but the occasional glance told me that he was waiting for me to get annoyed. He was watching and waiting for my patience to run out, for me to take he axe from him. I didn't.  
I got myself cozy on the ground nearby, instead deciding to start up a conversation with them.  
"So, this might sound really annoying" I started, and all three Omega looked at me with unsure glances. They didn't know what I was going to bring up, but they probably assumed it to be about how slow this process was going. "But what actually happened back at the death rally? You know, the part where the spike was going to rip me a new one"  
"Oh...um.." Dan said, obviously not sure how he was going to explain that one to me. He unconsciously moved his right hand up to his right eye, cupping it as though he wanted to hide it from existence. "That one is a little hard to explain"  
"Trust me Dan, I've had a number of things happen in my short life that I really wouldn't be able to explain without getting dubious looks" I explained, waving away the notion of how silly it might be. "In short, humour me"  
"Well, do you want the long or the short version?"  
"Whichever is easiest for you to explain"  
"Short version it is" Dan said, jokingly smiling at me. "Well, I got shot in the eye with a experimental gun that some random bandit had near our home town"  
"Titan's end?"  
"Yeah, that's it" Dan said, his eyes narrowing as he tried to recall something. He was probably trying to remember whether or not he had told me about his home town. "Did Chris tell you about it?"  
"No, PJ did"  
"Oh, okay" Dan said, at ease with the answer. "So anyway, the gun was some kind of new stupid slag weapon, and the bandit thought it would be fun to shoot me in the eye"  
"Oh, was that when we were trying to find Chris's sister?" Phil asked, his eyes lighting with recognition at the memory. Not good memories, but memories nontheless.  
"Yeah, it was" Dan said, proceeding to look over to Troye as the axe made a thunking noise into the wood of the trees. "My eye was luckily saved, but I have no freaking clue on how it fixed itself nor how I got the powers that came with it"  
"What was that power even?"  
"I think it's the ability to slow down time" Dan said, releasing his cupped hand from over his eye. It was still the gentle brown colour from before. "It doesn't completely stop time, but it only works for me and anyone that touches me when I activate it"  
"And the occasional random bleeding during the night?" I asked, unsure if Phil knew about them. Due to the fact he didn't react, I assumed he did know. "Are they just part of the package?"  
"It would seem so" Dan said nonchalantly, not seeming to be concerned about them. "They are part of it"  
"And what was that power that seemed to shove me out of the way?"  
"Oh, that wasn't me" Dan said, pointing over to Phil instead of himself. "That was Phil"  
"Hi"  
"Let me guess, more Eridium?"  
"Ugh, it seems to be everywhere in this blasted land" Troye groaned, dislodging the axe from the halfway cut tree. "My powers, Dan's powers and now Phil's powers"  
"Well, mine was when a scientist decided to get a little...experimental" Phil mentioned, his words trailing off. "That was before I lived in Titan's end"  
"God I hate scientists" I grumbled, thinking back on one very weird scientist at my old work. "They never seem to be doing anything important, just stupid or dangerous shit"  
"But isn't that essentially what you do? Stupid and dangerous shit?" Troye asked, a giant grin across his face.  
"Shut up dude"


	28. (28) Somebody that you used to know

Ally's P.O.V.:

Bang Bang. Two knocks sounded against the roof for what seemed the millionth time in the passing hour.  
It was probably Troye, wanting to know if I saw anything from my birds eye view from on top of the truck. I gave one resounding knock on the top of the drivers cabin, giving the response that I had not seen anything of interest.  
No further response had come, so I assumed they had gotten my message loud and clear. The wind whipped around my ears as well as flinging my hair in strange and wild frenzies all over the place as we drove along.  
I stood up, moving along the chugging truck over to the main compartment at the back, kicking the compartment twice. After a couple of seconds, I felt and heard another knock come from the compartment, letting me know everything was well.  
The Beta had refused to take any further suppressants, and so that meant Dan and Phil had to watch over them 24/7 in the back of the truck. This also meant that Me, Danny and Brian were not allowed in the back of the truck.  
And because the drivers cabin could only fit two (three if you squeezed us in), I was stuck on the roof along with the Ninja and Danny.  
Ninja Brian was busy flinging stones out away from our moving truck, seeing how far they would go from his throws. From his mannerisms, I was guessing that he was bored from the lack of excitement. Well, I'm not gonna go and kick a bandit and piss off a whole bunch of people just so people like him are not bored.  
Danny, surprisingly, was quiet on the back of the truck, looking out over the dust that spiralled away from the rear wheels. I paused to look over at him, unsure how I was supposed to take the silence from the sarcastic and probing man.  
"What's wrong? Surely losing a argument with me has not got you so down?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. I expected a snarky response from him, but he was silent.  
Heck, at first I didn't think he would even respond to me. He turned his head slowly to look at me, his curly and wild hair blowing everywhere.  
"No, I..." He began, but trailed off after a couple of syllables. It seemed either that he didn't know how to explain it, or that he didn't know what it was that was wrong with him.  
I unfolded my arms, unsure how to take the sudden change in attitude. I mean, I had seen the arguments between Ninja Brian and him, but this was on a whole other level.  
"You aren't used to having someone genuinely not look after themselves first?" I asked, unsure about how I was supposed to get the answer from him. Was leaving him alone to tell it himself the better option? Or probing?  
"No, you simply remind me vaguely of someone" Danny said, his attention returning to the dust instead of me. "He was like you as well"  
"Well, do you want to talk about him?"  
"No, not really"  
I sighed, but left it at that. I wasn't really planning on having a heart to heart on the top of a moving truck anyway.  
A tap on the shoulder nearly made me jump a metre in the air. It was good that I didn't, I would have tumbled off the truck if I had.  
"What is it?!" I grumbled to the man behind me, seeing that it was Ninja Brian. He didn't seem at all fazed by the grumbling, pointing out ahead of the truck.  
I squinted my eyes at the direction in which he had pointed, it was becoming quite hard to see with the sun angling ahead of our truck. It took a couple of seconds, but I saw what he was pointing at in the distance. It was a strange shaped structure, almost triangular in shape.  
"What on earth is that?" I asked, not in particular asking either man on top of the truck with me.  
Ninja Brian wasn't much help, simply shrugging his shoulders. This either meant he didn't really care, or he had no clue. It probably was that he didn't care.  
"Looks like a pyramid to me" Danny said, moving himself away from the back of the truck to look along with the both of us. "It actually surprises me that there is one out here, they aren't really that common on Pandora"  
Danny seemed to have sort of snapped himself out of the mood he was in, and I for some reason was more comfortable with this version of him. His taunting and probing were part of him, but I did find this nicer and more silent part of him very interesting indeed.  
"What do you think?" I asked, moving over to the drivers cabin of the truck. "Should I mention it to the group?"  
Danny narrowed his eyes at the structure, unsure about the answer to that question.  
"I don't really know what we will get out of it" Danny sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. His leather vest crinkled as he did so, and he didn't seem to mind the additional noise with the movement. God, how he could wear that thing out here in the bleeding hot sun, I had no freaking clue.  
"I'll let them know, and let them also decide on what to do" I answered, deciding to take the reins on the decision.  
Bang bang bang. I tapped the drivers cabin with my foot three times, the signal that we had all agreed would be if something out of the ordinary had happened.  
After I banged on the roof, I could hear clambering in the drivers cabin. The window winded down on the right side of the drivers cabin, and I could hear some small argument happening.  
"H-Wha-Troye! Hang out on your side you nutcase!" Mark grumbled, and I could feel the truck swerve slightly as he said that. "I'm serious! I need to be able to see to drive you idiot!"  
Troye's head stuck out of the window a moment later, him using both his arms to hang himself out of the window to look at me.  
"What's up? Did you see something interesting?" Asked Troye, and I could swear I could still hear Mark grumbling to him.  
"Yeah, there is a strange structure up ahead" I mentioned pointing in the direction that the pyramid was. "Danny says that it is a pyramid"  
Troye pulled himself back into the truck and clambered around in the drivers cabin to get a better look at what I had pointed at. After a couple of seconds, I could him try to move back over to Mark's window.  
"I'm serious! Stop trying to hang out of my window!" Mark bellowed at him, the truck swerving a little once more. "You have your own bloody window for fuck's sake!"  
Troye either was tired of getting yelled at or he was simply tired of having to climb all over Mark, cause his head stuck out of the left side of the drivers cabin this time.  
"Did you want to stop there? At the pyramid I mean?" Troye asked me, his small curly locks blowing a little in the wind.  
I went to respond straight away, but the wind thought it would be funny to smack a good portion of my hair into my face. I hurriedly fixed it, using one hand to hold the now potential weapon away from my face.  
"I am curious to be honest" I said honestly, my gaze often switching between Troye and the pyramid. "Not to mention we have been driving for six hours straight now and Mark might want to take a break"  
Troye leaned slightly back into the drivers cabin to pass on the message from me, but Mark beat him to it.  
"Yeah, I am pretty stiff and tired" Mark said, and I made a mental note that Mark and Troye could hear a bunch of things from us on top of the truck pretty well. "We'll head over there" 

* * *

About two hours later, the truck ended up slowing down to a halt. Troye poked his head out of the window, the strong sun making his hair all sweaty and stick to his forehead.  
"Wow, it looks even bigger up close" Troye said breathlessly, looking over the pyramid in wonder. I could hear Mark snicker a moment later, but I wasn't sure why. "What?"  
"That's what she said" Mark giggled, and it sounded like he was trying to hold in his laughter. Emphasis on trying. "Or what he said, in your case"  
"Oh haha, very funny" Troye said, rolling his eyes very slowly. "How strange that you would be the one to make that comment"  
"Well, Chris, Dan and Jack are not here, sooo..."  
"So you think you have to take up the torch?"  
"Come on! It was funny"  
"No it wasn't"  
I chuckled to myself, jumping off the roof of the truck. I landed with a big thud against the ground, the dry earth cracking slightly under my weight.  
I moved over to the back of the truck, and I could already smell all the rampant heat smells from inside. I decided to emphasise caution and not open the door immediately.  
Instead, I knocked once on the door. I heard someone respond jokingly when I did.  
"Who's there?"  
I chuckled, the humour from Phil offsetting all the strange emotions from Brian and Danny. I loved these silly goofy dorks.  
"Hello Phil" I said, leaning against the door as I did so. I didn't even really need to listen to the voice to know who it was.  
"Hello Phil who?"  
I laughed again at his silly remark, and I could hear him laugh along with me.  
"Oh my god Phil would you stop messing around?!" Dan said, and I could hear him move closer to the door. "Hey Ally, where did we stop?"  
"We had seen a pyramid in the distance a while ago, so we were curious and Mark was also tired from driving" I explained, sort of mashing up all he bits of information quickly. "How are the boys doing?"  
I could hear Dan sigh, while Phil seemed to laugh awkwardly.  
"Jack has been asleep for the majority of the time, thank god" Phil mentioned, and I could almost tell that he was trying to point at someone.  
"Phil, she can't see you point"  
"Oh! Sorry, my bad!" Phil continued. "PJ has been eating literally everything we have been handing him"  
"I swear, we could hand him rocks and he would eat it" I heard Dan pipe up.  
"Don't feed people rocks" I light heartedly chastised them. That earned a small chuckle from the both of them.  
"Tyler has been running a bit of a fever the whole time, while also trying to grab Dan's butt" Phil said, laughing as he explained Tyler's predicament.  
"Yeah, you think it's hilarious now" Dan grumbled to his older friend. "Just wait until he tries to grab yours as well"  
"Connor is alright, as long as we keep him away from the doors" Phil said, and I was about to ask him what on earth that meant when he answered it. "He's tried to open the door a total of seven times already"  
"Eight times, you forgot the one where he jumped on your back half an hour ago"  
"Oh yeah" Phil said, laughing at the memory. "But Chris is definitely the worst"  
"How come?" I asked, my forehead crinkling as I frowned slightly. I couldn't imagine Chris being the one doing the most damage, seeing as he was the one who was the most tame in his advances towards me.  
"Well, besides asking where you were ten times in one bloody minute" Dan grumbled. "He is the only one who legit tried to kiss, fondle and full on have sex with me or Phil"  
"I think he broke one of my ribs when he grabbed me in a death hug the first time" Phil said, and I could hear him poke something and mutter a groan of pain. "Dan only managed to get him off when he kicked Chris in the back"  
"Yeah, and Phil had to tickle him another time to get him off me"  
I could almost imagine Phil tickling someone to get them to let go of someone. And I could literally imagine Dan kicking someone to get them off Phil. I might have found them funny, if it wasn't for the fact Chris was probably stronger than both of them and they no doubt were scared out of their wits each time it happened.  
"Do you guys want to swap with Mark and Troye?" I asked, looking over to said boys, who were busy stretching their legs not far from me. They turned their heads my way when I mentioned their name, not to mention they probably already felt the strange emotions coming from the truck.  
"What, Mark? The one who is scared of intimately being touched?" Asked Dan, not liking the idea one bit. "Not to mention the boys will probably all jump out the moment we open these doors"  
"Not to mention, both me and Dan have no idea how to drive this thing" Phil added his two cents worth. "We'll manage in here"  
"You two are real troopers, you know that?" I said, thankful of the two silly men.  
"Yeah, I guess we are" Phil said, and I could hear him adopt a strange, sexy tone. "I suppose you'll have to reward us when we get out"  
"PHIL LESTER!"  
"What?"  
I laughed, deciding to move away from the now arguing members of our group. I sure hope Phil wasn't being influenced by the Beta and being around them for so long.  
Wait, that would mean that he legit was flirting.  
Face, now is not the time to become a tomato.

"Got everything sorted with them over there?" Asked Mark, bringing my attention back to the real world.  
"Yup, they're all good to still look after the five of them in there" I mentioned, jabbing a thumb over to the truck behind us.  
"God, how hot would it be in there?" Asked Troye, looking over to the metal box.  
"Probably way too fucking hot" Mark sighed, running a hair through his sweaty hair. "Heck, we're hot enough out here in the breeze"  
"You're damn right you're all hot enough" Danny commented, and I could hear Mark grumble and roll his eyes.  
I for one was confused how he got his mojo so easily back. I mean, he could have easily just continuously berated me and prodded at me on top of the truck, but he hadn't. What a strange man.  
"Whatever, who are you taking with you into the pyramid?" Mark asked, deciding to ignore Danny instead of respond to him. "Cause I am not comfortable with letting you go alone into that thing"  
"I'll probably take Ninja Brian and Danny" I said, and all four men widened their eyes at my choice. "Not meant offensively, but I still don't trust you two with my boys without me there"  
"But you are completely fine with just us and you?" Danny asked, his Cheshire grin back on his face. "Some might assume that me and Brian would take advantage of you or something"  
"Please, I'll have destroyed the both of you before you could blink" I growled, not backing down in terms of aggression with both men. "The two of you would be stupid to attempt it"  
"What can I say? Alpha are not supposed to be very smart" Danny said, and I very nearly attacked him on sight.  
 **That phrase... He knows...**  
"Whatever, let's get going before bandits see us and decide to poke around" I grumbled, purposely trying to avoid his eyes.  
"As you wish, Milady"


	29. (29) What's this?

Ally's P.O.V.:  
It was relatively quiet in the pyramid, the only real noise being our three footsteps. Well actually, that was not quite true. You couldn't hear Ninja Brian's footsteps for some remote reason. Make that two sets of footsteps.  
He was walking along at the same pace as us, but no noise came from him as he walked along. It was a little bit perturbing to say the least.  
NB was looking stock straight in front of him, as though he was expecting something to jump out of the darkness to attack us. That, or he was extremely bored. The soft orange light from the lantern made parts of his body cast long and strangely shaped shadows against the wall, his face shrouded in the most darkness.  
His gaze traveled over to the dusty walls of the small walkway we had found, focusing on the cracked and old look of it all. He reached out with his hand delicately, tracing his fingers over the stone softly. It made a gentle scraping noise that brought Danny's attention momentarily to his friend. After not much else happened, Danny decided that it wasn't worth his attention once more. NB brought his fingers away from the wall, as though he was inspecting them for dust. He scowled at the buildup of dust on the tips of his fingers, rubbing the infernal things away hurriedly.  
After that, he didn't really do much else. It was as though he was actually interested in the pyramid itself, but didn't want to give that impression to either me or Danny. Maybe he believed it made him look weak or nerdy in some weird way. Don't ask me, I don't know what a bloody ninja thinks.  
Danny on the other hand, seemed to be in one of his strangely quiet and contemplating moods. His face was devoid of much emotion, blankly looking ahead into the darkness that was yet to be illuminated. He was the one holding the lantern right in front of him, illuminating the way ahead for the three of us.  
I still think it would have made more sense for me to hold the bloody lantern you idiot. I am walking in the middle of this little expedition group after all!  
 **He desires control of the situation.**  
Ugh, it still didn't make much sense.  
His eyes were calm and somewhat tired, reminding me of the way his eyes looked on top of the truck when it was just us three once more. How strange, he only seemed to be able to relax himself around me and Ninja Brian.  
I couldn't really imagine it. So far he had done a pretty good job of being annoying and off putting.  
A jab to my ribs made me pay more attention, realising that Danny was pointing over to the wall on our right.  
"What do you think that is?" Danny asked, moving himself over to what he had noticed.  
I rolled my eyes and followed him over to the wall he had pointed out to see what on earth had peaked his interest. I didn't really have much choice in the matter, he was the one with the lantern still after all.  
I ignored the ever increasing darkness around us, peering at the wall to see what on earth it was. There were small little grooves that seemed to poke out from the wall, ranging from small squiggles and straight lines to small symbols.  
I gasped in awe, seeing how they all lined the wall in what seemed to perhaps be a sentence or something that ancient people would understand long ago. I gently ran my fingers along the symbols, feeling them underneath my fingertips.  
"Wow, how old do you think this is?" I asked, my love of ancient ruins once more sparking to life. "It feels like ages since I've been in ruins and seen something like this"  
"Oh, you used to do this sort of thing?" Danny asked, looking curiously over to me. "For some reason I can't really imagine you as a archeologist"  
"Oh, I'm not" I said, shrugging my shoulder at the thought. "Me and my old boss used to stumble onto lots of places like this when we were searching for bandit camps"  
"Your old boss, huh? Sounds weird to go looking for bandit camps" Danny commented idly to himself, peering over the symbols more. "Sounds like you guys did some tomb raiding back then"  
"I suppose we did" I said, glad he didn't press more on the fact I used to do it with my boss. Or who my boss was to be honest. "What do you think this says?"  
"Hmm..." Danny said, moving his hands over the symbols quite similar to how I had just done it. I was beginning to think he was making fun of me until he said something. "It says to send nudes"  
"Dude, screw you" I said, trying my best to hide my laughter. I obviously didn't do it good enough, a giant grin coming over Danny's face once a couple of chuckles left me.  
"Come on, you found it funny" Danny said, smiling at me. After a couple of seconds, he regarded the wall once again with a similar look to mine a moment before. "God, Stefan would have loved this"  
I raised an eyebrow at him, but didn't ask the burning question on the tip of my tongue. Heck, he did the honour of not asking about my boss.  
He sighed deeply, removing his hand from the wall. He moved the lantern to peer further down the long winding tunnel we had been following for the last half an hour.  
"Do we want to keep going or do we wanna head back?" Danny asked me, pointing in both directions as he said them.  
"I mean, I am really interested in ruins and stuff like this" I admitted, bringing myself away from the wall. "But I'm also worried about the others... Ninja Brian, what do you..."  
Ninja Brian had gone, no single trace even remaining that he had been with us. Wow, this reminded me of the time he disappeared at that last outcropping of rocks.  
If this was some kind of horror movie, it would turn out that he was a spirit the entire time and that both me and Danny had been imagining him. Great job Ally, you are getting close to breaking the fourth wall.  
"Um, Danny..." I said slowly, looking all around us just in case I had missed the ninja in the darkness. "Where did Ninja Brian go?"  
"Oh, is he gone?" Danny said, talking about the disappearance as though it was something normal. As if it was a day to day occurrence for the both of them. "Yeah don't worry too much about that, he does that often"  
"How often?"  
"Oh, depends on what's happening" Danny said, sounding very matter of fact about it all. It still unnerved me how calm these two were with each other's strange and wacky antics. "He usually leaves when something annoys him"  
"But what did we do to annoy him?"  
"I dunno to be honest" Danny said, scratching his slight beard lightly. "Probably our chattering"  
"He doesn't like people chattering away?"  
"Who knows with him" Danny said, seemingly dropping the rest of the conversation in place of adventuring further into the crypt. "Shall we head further in?"  
I sighed, looking behind us out to what was supposed to be the entrance. The small bit of light that was the entrance was no longer visible to me anymore, really only relying on the lantern that Danny held in his hand.  
"How much oil do we still have?" I asked, moving closer to him to try and peer into the lantern myself. "I don't really like the idea of being stuck in here without some sort of light"  
"It's a shame that us Alpha don't have night vision, eh?" Danny joked, peering closer to the lantern himself. "We've got two thirds left"  
"So let's keep going for a bit" I suggested, moving past him down the dark corridor. "At least until we get to half of our oil"  
"Aye Aye milady"

* * *

We had been walking further for a while now. I couldn't really tell you the amount of time we had been going along, I wasn't used to wearing a watch after all.  
I peered at the lantern, but it was still over half full. I sighed, running my hands along the wall to feel for any more symbols or writing. I was content with the silence, but apparently Danny had other plans.  
"So, who's your boss?"  
"So, who's Stefan?" I responded in turn, not looking over at his face as I said it. I was damn sure not going to tell him something about my old boss without anything from him.  
He didn't respond, naturally. I expected that.  
He sighed, digging around into his black leather jacket. He pulled out a crumpled piece of paper, its creases and folds making it obvious that it had been folded and unfolded numerous times in the past.  
"Here, this is Stefan" He said, holding the piece of paper out to me. "With his mother"  
I took the crumpled piece of paper, feeling that it was a quite sturdy thing. It probably was a folded photo, which would make sense.  
I unfolded it carefully, afraid I might tear it. When I finally had it open, I saw that my guess had been correct all along.  
It had a young boy in the photo, a young blonde haired kid. Standing beside him was a brown haired lady, her smile beaming from ear to ear.  
"You look pretty young for a father of a teen" I commented, looking at the photo. "He looks more like his mom than you"  
"Yeah, I got both of those a whole bunch" Danny said, flicking some sort of bug off his clothing. "Before she left"  
"She left you?"  
"Yeah, said she couldn't handle the fact I was willing to dirty my hands" Danny said, looking off in the distance as he spoke. He seemed very melancholic about it. "Took Stefan with her, and that was it"  
"How old do you think he is now?" I asked, returning the picture to him. He tucked it away, sighing deeply as he thought about his son's possible age.  
"Fifteen" Danny said confidently. "Unless Sara has lied to him about his age or who his dad is"  
"How old was he when she left?" I asked, curious about this new development.  
"I think he was seven...No wait, he would have been eight" Danny said, counting on his fingers the amount of years. "It was seven years ago now"  
I didn't have any more questions, allowing him the comfort of silence. I knew from personal experience how hard it could be to talk about something emotional from previous years.  
"I remind you of your son?" I wondered to myself softly. Heck, he wasn't even supposed to be able to hear the question.  
"He acted a lot like his mom" Danny said, sighing once again. "I guess that's why I find it so hard to treat you like I did everyone else"  
I nodded my head, now understanding the reasoning behind the majority of things. I guess it made sense that he would get depressed after meeting someone who reminded him of his...ex wife? Partner?  
Eh, who cares which one she was to him. All that matters is the emotions behind the thought.  
"So, do I get to learn about your boss?"  
"Ugh, a dude who I believed I could change for the better when he started to go off the deep end" I vaguely answered. "I don't share it with anyone because I know they'll freak out once they know who he is"  
"Pshh, come on" Danny said, scoffing at the notion of him being afraid of someone. "Surely he can't be-  
"I'll give you a single clue; he works for Hyperion"  
He closed his previously open mouth, seemingly ticking off things in his head.  
"A dude who went off the deep end"  
"Yup"  
"Who works for Hyperion?"  
"Yes"  
He barked out a short burst of laughter, but it sounded bitter and mocking. I looked at him from the corner of my eyes, waiting to see if he would do something rash like throwing the lantern at me. I wasn't really that excited to find out how flammable this piece of shit cloak was after all.  
He didn't do anything.  
 **Why isn't he attacking?...**  
"When I first laid my eyes on you, I knew you were powerful" Danny stated, looking at me warily. "But I didn't know you were insane as well"  
"And I didn't know that working for someone makes you insane" I growled, hoping he would drop it. Naturally, he didn't.  
"That man only keeps people around him who think alike to him" Danny growled in return, anger showing in his eyes. "That makes you insane"  
"Call me whatever you will" I growled lowly. "He was a good man for a good while"  
"So that's your plan?!" Danny asked mockingly. It wasn't quite the same type of mocking he had used for me the entire time we knew each other. This mocking was as if he believed me to be literal scum rather than making fun of me like usual. "Trick a group of young boys to follow you back to Hyperion and use them for god knows what that madman wants?!"  
 **How fucking dare you!**  
My hand shot immediately out the moment he said that, striking the lantern within his hands to smithereens. The flame burst out with the increased oxygen, but quickly got snuffed a moment after due to the lack of fuel. The hot oil splashed onto the walls and floor, a couple of drops getting themselves onto Danny's jacket. The only noise after that was the gentle tinkling of a million pieces of glass spreading themselves onto the floor.  
He took a good couple of steps backwards, his feet and legs spread in a ready stance for me. The lack of light made it very difficult for us to see each other, but I could smell him.  
 **I could smell his fear.**  
He could have immediately ran away from me, towards the exit of the pyramid. But there was a good reason why he wasn't. He didn't know if I had a gun on me.  
From what I had seen so far, Danny was the kind to let Ninja Brian do all the hard work. Despite the gun I knew Danny held, I knew he wouldn't risk randomly firing it inside this place without being able to see me. The moment he did, all hell would break loose.  
 **After all, that would give you the perfect excuse to kill him.**  
"So, that's it huh" Danny said, and I could hear him move in the darkness to a slightly different position. "In the end you are the actual insane person while everyone believes the insane one is me"  
 **"Let me make something very clear to you absolute moron of a being; He is called my former boss for a fucking reason"** I seethed, wanting to break something desperately. **"I would never give my pack over to him, not in a million years; so unless you have something smart to say, shut the hell up"**  
"Did you really have to break the lantern to tell me that?" Danny asked, his tone still streaked with anger and distrust.  
"A idiot can often only understand things through violence"  
"Gee, I wonder what that says about you"

(Hello everyone! If you wish for your OC to join this story, fill out a similar thing that the characters have in either the first chapter or the introduction to phase two. Thank you very much and I look forward to seeing people wanting to join :D)


	30. (30) Does he know?

Ally's P.O.V.: (Hello dear viewers! If you would like to have a OC join the story, please fill in a form like in the character chapters and leave it in the comments (As well as how they meet the group). I would like to have more OC's to be able to have more romance options (Please). Thanks for listening to me, and enjoy this chapter! :D)

Pitch black darkness, that's all Danny and me had in that pyramid for a long time. Breaking the lantern might not have been my brightest idea in recent times.

Both me and him tried to be as far away from each other as we could be in he cramped corridor, a gap between us both as we walked. The dusty and sandy surface underneath our feet caused continuous noise, which I was grateful for. I might hate the dude, but being alone in this creepy place didn't seem like a idea I wanted to try out.

"Are you sure this is the way out?" I asked, breaking the relative silence with my voice. "We have been walking for a incredibly long time now"

"This tunnel is literally a one way thing" Danny said, not bothering to hide his annoyance and anger when it was just the both of us. "Even if we did have the lantern, it wouldn't have made any difference"

"That doesn't answer my question you asshole" I grumbled, knowing he would take the moment to dig at the lantern again. "I guess I no longer act like your former partner, huh?"

"See, that's why I am upset" Danny said, sighing heavily. Due to the fact my eyes were adjusted pretty well to the darkness, I could see that he was rubbing his head tiredly. "Every single action you make is more and more like her"

"Your partner broke lanterns?"

"No, but she once broke a guitar over my head"

"Oh, is that why you're such a idiot?" I said sarcastically, unintentionally making myself laugh. I had expected him to laugh as well, if only begrudgingly. He didn't seem to take it so well.

"Goddamit, stop it!" Danny shouted suddenly, stopping dead in his tracks to glare at me in the darkness. "Even that comment is something she would say!"

"I can't help what on earth she would have said back in the day! Get off my back!"

"Then stop acting like Sara!"

"I just said that I can't fucking help that!"

Danny obviously grew annoyed of trying things the verbal way, and he swung his fist in a arc behind him to throw a punch. I raised both my hands in preparation to catch his fist, but it became obvious that he wasn't aiming for me. His fist connected with the wall directly above my right shoulder, and I had expected it to crumble and shatter into a million pieces with Danny's immense strength.

To both his surprise and mine, the wall simply got pushed back slightly. He had essentially pushed a square block further into the wall than it was before, and the both of us heard a very loud clicking noise.

"Wha-

Danny got cut off when the wall behind us slid downwards to reveal a dark and windy tunnel that rapidly declined downwards. I was about to suggest that the both of us move away, when the floor underneath us suddenly lurched downwards.

I fell backwards into the gaping tunnel, while Danny fell forward a moment later. The tunnel was slippery and surprisingly smooth, which caused the both of us to tumble down it like some sort of gigantic slide. Except going down a slide backwards is fucking terrifying.

The more I slid, the more I tried to scrabble my hands against the floor and wall to stop myself. It proved very fruitless, both the walls and floor being too slippery to get and sort of proper grip.

I tried to look around me as I slid, seeing Danny not far behind me. At one point the slide seemed to split down into two paths, and Danny got sent down the other pathway from me.

"I fucking hate slides!"

* * *

What felt like a eternity later, I finally got dropped at the end of the slide onto something crunchy and prickly. I grumbled, picking myself up from the position on the floor.

I peered down at my feet to try and see what it was that I landed on, but I couldn't quite tell. Something that differed in shape a bunch.

"Danny?" I asked, hoping to hear some sort of response.

None came, giving me the impression that his different tunnel must have brought him somewhere completely different from me.

I stood up, looking around in the darkness. I was in a pretty big room, a set of stairs at the opposite end of where I had landed. I started to trek my way over there, when I heard someone else come down and unceremoniously get dumped onto the pile of crunchy stuff.

"Danny? Is that you?" I asked, turning to the person. I squinted in the darkness, and I could make out someone slightly taller than me stand up and dust themselves off.

They didn't really answer me, making their way over to me and proceeding to pull out some sort of handmade torch. The silence was getting to me so much, and I had no choice but to speak up lest I became really paranoid.

"If you aren't Danny, then who are you?" I asked the figure. I got a short chuckle in response.

"It shouldn't be that hard to figure out if you came in here with only two people"

The voice wasn't one I recognised in the slightest, it being slightly nasally. Both the chuckle and the short sentence was quite deep, the person speaking softly due to our close proximity.

The torch suddenly flared into life after a couple of seconds, but the face I saw still didn't tell me who on earth it was supposed to be. Mostly gray hair that was relatively short on top of his head. Slight stubble as well, but I got the impression that it was because he hadn't had the opportunity to shave himself rather than actually growing it properly.

All in all, I didn't recognise him at all. My face must have given it away, cause he smirked slightly. He then moved a hand to his clad black outfit and pulled it slightly to make it stand out to me.

Black outfit...

"Ninja Brian?!" I asked, confused as to why he was fine with showing me his face and his voice.

"Just Brian is fine" He commented idly, the smirk still present on his face. He looked down at the floor, moving his handmade torch to inspect something. "Oh, so that's what we are standing on"

I followed his gaze, seeing that we had been standing on human bones the entire time.

"Well, that explains the crunching" I said, shrugging my shoulders. Brian laughed at that comment, which made me slightly confused. "What?"

"No, it's nothing" Brian said, still grinning despite him saying that. "I guess I just find it funny how unlike a woman you are"

I bit my tongue, lest I start a argument with him as well. I already had Danny hating me, and it would become problematic if both of them did.

He walked past me, heading to the set of stairs I had seen in he darkness. The bones still crunched under both of our feet as we did so, but I was now able to avoid any sharp looking ones due to his light.

"Why are you showing me your face?" I asked him. "I mean, you always hid it from people in our group"

"Because unlike my moron of a partner, I can see the potential of having you as a ally" Brian commented, turning his head slightly to look back at me. "No pun intended"

"Partner? Are you two-

"Oh god no, don't even joke about that" Brian laughed, but you could hear some sort of seriousness behind it. "I wouldn't sleep with that guy even if he was the last person in the universe"

"Ha! Same here" I laughed, but my laughter trailed off after a short while. "I don't know what on earth he is thinking"

"Well, don't worry" Brian said, extending a hand out to me to help me up onto the stairs. Despite the fact I felt like I wouldn't really need it, I took the hand and allowed myself to be helped onto the stairs. It felt a little familiar to me. "I often have the same problem when it comes to him"

He pulled me onto the stairs, and then allowed me to take back my hand. It felt kind of weird, being able to casually talk to him as if he was a normal person and not some random guy that had simply followed us around for the longest time.

"Was there a reason why you had left me and Danny along back in that corridor for a long time?" I asked, not expecting a serious answer. It probably was something silly like him getting distracted.

"I was hoping you two would have a moment to get along with each other when I wasn't there" Brian said, giving the door at the top of the stairs a experimental punch. Naturally, the punch didn't do anything. "Sadly, Danny was being stupid as usual"

"He has every right to not trust me because of who I used to work for" I said, sighing deeply at the subject.

"I don't think so" Brian said, turning to me and holding out the torch. I took the torch from him, and he started to feel around the door with both hands. "He used to work alongside bandit bosses, so he doesn't have any right to judge"

"Why did he work alongside bandits bosses?"

"Something about how they would leave us alone if they saw us as useful" Brian commented, holding his hand out for the torch. "How about you try here?"

I took his advice, looking around the door for anything that stood out to me. The fact that a whole bunch of bones were strewn about told me this wasn't one of those simple solutions.

"We could take the easy option and simply smash down the door" I commented, not really liking the idea of randomly pushing buttons lest I trigger a trap like in that old adventure movie. What was it again, The temple of Kali? "By the way, what made Danny want to attack Bossanova?"

"At first it was simply the fact that Bossanova had tried to cheat Danny out of some new kind of merchandise, a kind of gun that sounded more like a gust of wind when fired" Brian said, grinning as though he was telling some sort of joke. "But he changed his mind when we showed up and you were working your magic in that death rally"

"And he thought I was interesting, so he threw it all out the window to join our little ragtag group?"

"Essentially, yes" Brian said, his focus now on the door. "As much as I appreciate ruins and archeology, I'm not too worried about keeping this place a hundred percent intact"

"That's all I need to hear" I said, tensing and relaxing my right hand.

Brian calmly moved himself out of my way, allowing me to rush forward and punch the door directly in the centre. It didn't crumble in dust like old movies, instead breaking into about fifteen different sizes which flew in all directions.

"Jesus Christ! What did that door ever do to you?!"

I looked back at Brian, but he shook his head when I did. It obviously wasn't him who had spoken just now.

I turned back to the door, seeing Danny try to clamber over the pieces of rock towards us. Once he saw that I wasn't going on some sort of rampage, he relaxed a slight amount.

"Why did you break the door?! The button to open it would have been directly above the door if your room turned out to be the same as mine!" Danny said, frowning at the destruction all around him.

"I didn't want to take the chance that it triggered a trap" I said smoothly, lying about knowing the location of the button. "Isn't that right Ninja Brian?"

Both me and Danny look over to him, and I noticed that he had slipped back on his black mask. He nodded to show him agreeing with my earlier statement, which I was silently laughing at.

"Why on earth did you go to help her instead of me?!" Danny asked him incredulously, his hands on his hips like a stubborn child.

Glaring.

"What the hell do you mean you trust her more than me?!" Danny asked, more upset than before. Despite the fact I had the impression Ninja Brian was trying to pull his leg, Danny was getting legitimately upset the more they looked and communicated with each other.

"Whatever, the both of you can argue it out at a later date in my opinion" I said, pushing my way past Danny. "I want to get out of this place and back to my boys"

* * *

The sun was incredibly blinding when the three of us came out of that accursed place, and both me and Danny had to stop and allow our eyes to get adjusted before we ran out. Ninja Brian was fine of course, that guy can do the weirdest of things and be completely fine.

I wasn't sure if the three of us had gotten closer inside that place or developed a sort of animosity.

Danny and Ninja Brian had some sort of conflict with each other because of the fact Ninja Brian had come to help me instead of going to him. But who knows, they might shrug it off like it was nothing in a matter of days.

Me and Danny, I honestly couldn't tell. At first we were able to laugh and joke, then we argued and then we met again while almost acting like nothing had changed between us. God, he confuses he even more now than when he was the taunting asshole from before.

Ninja Brian and me obviously had gotten to a higher level of trust than before, him showing me his uncovered face and speaking to me like a honest person. It felt like he honestly cared for me a lot more than he would admit to anybody.

Whatever the result for any of us, there was one thing that we could all agree one. We never wanted to go back into that specific pyramid ever again.

"God, why is it still so freaking hot out here?" Danny moaned, fanning himself with his hand. I could spy a single bead of sweat trailing its way down the side of his head. "I hope your boys haven't fainted from exhaustion or something"

I was about to make a crack about the boy's fainting from a simple jog, when my face fell. Danny and Ninja Brian could see my sudden change of attitude, and Ninja Brian's raising of his eyebrow was enough to make me voice what my concerns were.

"I can't see any of them" I said, looking at the very alone truck not too far away from us. "And I can't smell any of them either"

"Well... maybe they are all napping in the truck?" Danny suggested unhelpfully. "And maybe you have got your nostrils full of pyramid dust?"

Well, that second one might have been a proper one for a normal person.

"I don't think Mark would go ahead and take a nap out here on their own" I said, beginning to rapidly jump down the stairs that naturally formed from the pyramid. "And I highly doubt that my smelling capability would have been diminished that easily, not with my annoyingly sensitive nose"

Danny didn't bother to add any more of his annoying suggestions, instead trying to follow behind me. I could hear that the both of them were not getting at all tired, easily keeping up with me. Quite a contrast to the time that Dan, Phil, Troye and Mark had to run after me when the Beta had gotten kidnapped.

Why did my mind go straight to kidnapping? I'm probably just being super paranoid.

The boys will simply all be gathered in the back of the truck and I will simply be able to smell them once I get closer to the truck.

Except for the fact Dan and Phil had mentioned that they were not comfortable with opening the back doors. So maybe Mark and Troye were just doing something out the back?

I was surely just overthinking things, right? Right?!

As I neared the truck, I still couldn't smell anything. I looked inside the drivers cabin as I ran, seeing nobody. I tugged harshly on the door, which opened with a bang. Nobody.

I ran out to the back, hearing Danny catch up to me. He also looked inside the drivers cabin, and made a sharp intake of breath with the emptiness.

I put both of my hands on the handles to the rear compartment, but Danny placed his hands on my arms before I could potentially rip the doors off their hinges.

"Now hold on a moment, if all the Beta are still in the back here then you will get jumped mere seconds after you open this" Danny warned me, looking at me gravely. "Are you sure that-

"I'll take my chances" I said, giving Danny enough time to be a sizeable distance away from the back of the truck. Dude might be into bedding random people, but he wanted them to be on their own terms apparently.

I took a deep breath in, making sure to not completely throw the doors open and potentially break something. Despite this, I could feel the handles off the doors crumple slightly under my grip. I swung them open, the doors banging on both sides of the truck respectively.

I didn't necessarily brace myself for the boy's potentially jumping onto me, but I was still hoping and praying that I would hear something. Dan and Phil squeaking in surprise, Jack mumbling in his half asleep state, Tyler greeting me in some sort of weird way, PJ being in some sort of weird position, Connor probably hissing at the sudden sunlight and maybe a bit of a derby look from Chris.

...

...

...

Nothing.

I opened my eyes, seeing the bare and empty back of the truck. Connor's jumper and PJ's glasses sat on the floor. But that was it.

"They're not here" I said softly, not able to believe my eyes. "They..."

Danny came running back over to my position, also looking into the back. He made no noise, just stared.

"I...Well, maybe they..." Danny began, but trailed off every time he would actually have to come up with something. "Ninja Brian? A little help here?"

I ignored the two of them trying to unhelpfully think of random solutions, and instead decided to do what I knew best. I thought back to when the Beta were kidnapped, and what I had done.

I had gone into the place that they were, and I had smelled.

I smelled the back of the truck, the various scents assaulting my nose.

Dan and Phil's scents blended in the background, but I was still able to smell them. Chocolate and beetroot along with Apple sauce and caramel.

I couldn't really smell Mark or Troye, which meant that they hadn't barricaded themselves into the back.

Cotton candy and lollipops,Tyler. Lavender and rice, Chris. Honey and cinnamon, PJ. Lemon and cumin, Connor. Cookies and lettuce, Jack.

But there was another scent. One that I couldn't seem to place my finger on. A kind of spice and a fruit.

I took another smell, focusing intently on that vague whiff. It was a Beta, that was certain. They had the intense smell of their heat being in full swing, along with those weird half suppressants. You know, those ones that get rid of your horny feelings but not your scent?

But why were they suddenly so strong? It was almost as if the person was still here...

I don't know why, but I suddenly started to follow the scent along the air. It didn't even bring me that far, just around the corner of the truck.

There was a girl standing there, leaning against the side of the truck. Her pitch black hair slightly swished from side to side in the dry air, but she seemed unperturbed by the heat.

I cleared my throat, and she turned her eyes to me. They were such a strange colour, nearly pitch black. Or a very dark brown.

If she wasn't potentially involved in my boys going missing, I think I would have called her beautiful.

"Who are you?" I asked her, my voice a strained calm. I knew that attacking her wouldn't do much for me, it wouldn't get me my boys back. "Where are the guys that are supposed to be here?"

"Don't worry" she spoke calmly, pushing herself away from the truck and spreading her feet confidently. "They're in a safe place"

"Goddamit, I hope this isn't something like that horror movie" I grumbled, wanting to roll my eyes for even thinking of such a thing. "It was revealed that the person was inside a actual safe afterwards"

She paused for a moment, as if she wasn't sure I had just said that. A moment later, she burst into laughter.

"Nice! I think I might actually steal that one off you!" She giggled, holding her sides. "Do you mind if I do?"

"Go ahead, I'm not really that good at puns anyway" I said, trying to fight the urge to laugh along with her. "Phil is the one who is way better at puns"

"Sounds like a cool guy! Where is he?" She asked, looking over Danny and Ninja Brian respectively. "Is it one of these two?"

"No, he's one of the guys that you took"

"Oh..." She said quietly, her chipper attitude dropping. "Um...Yeah... Sorry about that"

Danny seemed at the end of his tether, reaching into the back of his pants for his gun. I was about to stop him, when a whole bunch of bandits suddenly seemed to all crawl out of the woodwork. Most of them seemed to have hidden underneath the truck or on the top.

"Goddamit" I growled underneath my breath. "Bandits and their fucking ability of appearing everywhere"

"Drup tha gyun!" One particular bandit said, it being obvious that he had gotten his jaw broken one too many times in the past. "Unyess yoo wanna dye!"

Danny looked annoyed with the prospect, instead choosing to still keep his hand on the gun. Ninja Brian looked particularly bored with everything that was happening, looking like everything was a nuisance right now.

"So what's the plan?" Danny whispered to me, still not taking his hand off his gun. "Charge at them and hope that they are all idiots?"

"I shed to drup yer gyun!"

"No, we aren't doing anything like that"

"Kan yoo even hear meh?!"

"What?! Why the hell not?!"

"Kan I shuut tham?"

"Because we'll never find out where the guys are, that's why"

"Don't shoot them!" The girl said, slapping the bandit with the broken jaw. "The boss wants Alpha people alive for his arena!"

"For fucks sake" Danny said, flinging his gun in anger at the bandit with the broken jaw. From the sounds of it, the gun was pretty heavy because of Danny being a Alpha. Make that one more time that that bandit has a broken jaw. "I hope you know what you are doing"

"OOWWIE!"

"Where did Ninja Brian go?" I asked Danny, suddenly noticing the disappearance of the Ninja that usually was right behind us.

"He probably decided this was too much effort" Danny said, placing his hands behind his head already. "God I wish I could do the same sometimes"

"Well, I suppose you could say..." The girl says, clicking her fingers at Danny in a weird way. "That he is well armed"

"I...Did you just-

"And let me just say this" The girl continued. "I've got my sights set on you"

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Danny asked, while I fought my urge to burst into laughter.

"Well now, I suppose you could call that..."

"Please stop" Danny begged.

"A loaded question"

I couldn't help it. I burst into laughter all the while Danny looked at the both of us like we were insane.

"Thank you, thank you" The girl said, bowing dramatically at both of us. "I suppose you could call me-

"Don't you fucking dare-

"On target"

"PFFF-AHHAHAHAHA!"

"I fucking hate the both of you"

"Would you say that you are-

"Stop!"

"Shellshocked?"

"Huehue-Ahaha... oh goodness I really needed that"

"I guess I am simply-

"Is this what hell is like?..."

"High caliber"

"Let it end"


	31. (31) This is gospel

Ally's P.O.V.: (OC's are still welcome :D)

"You can stop covering your ears now" I said, my eyes glancing over to the taller curly haired man walking beside me. He looked over at me for a brief second, but his stubbornness won out over listening to me. "I mean it, she hasn't been here for a good ten minutes now"

"You say that now, but the moment I take my hands off my ears she will jump into some stupid pun routine again" Danny said, his frown intensifying.

"She can't do that if she isn't here"

"I bet you are just lying to get me to uncover my ears" Danny said, grumbling to himself. "For all I know she is still there and you just want to have a good laugh"

I grew tired of waiting for him to uncover his own ears, so I took his left arm in my hands and tugged harshly on it. He was caught unaware, so he swerved slightly from the sudden weight.

"We can't whisper between each other if you cover your ears" I whispered to him, now having his full attention.

It had been a good couple of hours since we had been kidnapped by this bandit group, the two of us now being led through the base. We were surrounded by random bandits, each one seemingly more injured than the next.

What surprised me is that they didn't even bother to check either of us after Danny threw his gun. We could have had more hidden down our shirts or in our pants.

They didn't even try to handcuff us. I mean heck, I know that we could have broken any kind of handcuffs once they were placed on, but still. Most people at least try to restrict our movement instead of just leaving us to our devices.

"Pssh, we don't really need to form a plan right now, do we?" Danny whispered, despite him saying that he didn't need to whisper. "Just wait until we know where the guys are and proceed to kill anyone in our way once we do"

"Except these guys might kill them once we go out of line" I said, huffing a piece of hair out of my way. "I am not getting my boys hurt simply because you are impatient"

"Ugh, your boys should be able to handle a broken limb here or there"

"Fuck you, you prick" I hissed at him. "That's not an option"

He sighed, but didn't bother to respond to my statement. I knew myself that it would have been leagues easier if we had decided to abandon the boys back at the truck.

But I would never do that. If I was to ever abandon them, I might as well have done it back at the motel itself. When they had gotten kidnapped the first time, I could have simply left them and told them that they were absolutely insane to live near bandits.

It would have made me stand out less, made me more hidden from my boss.

"So, what kind of arena are we being taken to?" Danny asked the nearest bandit to him.

"Shaddup!"

"Well fuck you too"

The bandit tried to intimidate Danny by swinging the butt of his gun towards his face, but Danny seemed very unimpressed. Danny carelessly flicked the underside of the gun with his fingers, which launched the gun straight into the bandits face.

"OWWW!"

The bandit screeched out a string of curses afterwards, stopping to hold his now injured face. The rest of the bandits seemed to find it completely normal that their friend was injured in some way, so they ignored him and kept walking in time with me and Danny.

I sighed, but decided not to really berate Danny on his decision. Heck, I might have done a similar thing if one of them tried to provoke me.

I looked over at Danny, trying to understand how on earth I was still working alongside him without wanting to kill him at every turn. His curly hair bobbed with every step he took, the black leather he wore crinkling at the same time. He looked so different from my boss, yet his attitude was so similar. Maybe that's why I couldn't stop myself from becoming infatuated.

I was in love with him because I saw my boss in him. He might be in love with me because I act like his former partner, Sara.

In a way, our relationship is one that most people would describe toxic. We yearn, yet we hate.

"Is there a reason why you are staring?" Danny asked, a single eyebrow raised. It wasn't in the cocky way that I was hoping that it would be, instead it being in the more melancholy version that I had difficulty dealing with.

"What would you describe our relationship like?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.

He didn't respond, just stared at me as we walked along. I was fine with the sudden silence, his words often making me trip over myself.

Neither of us spoke, just kept looking.

"An 'ere we arr" The bandit with the broken jaw spoke, pointing ahead of us to some sort of entrance to a arena. "Da boss wans yuu to go in dere"

"How civil of them to point us in the direction" Danny stated sarcastically as bandits cleared the way to let us go forward. "I suppose it would be impolite to ask them where the bathroom is"

I shrugged my shoulders, never really caring much about how polite bandits had been to me before. I certainly had never considered what was rude when I would interact with them. I suppose society would label me as rude.

"Shall we go?" I asked, turning to him with my own sarcastic and non serious smile.

"Indeed we shall" Danny said, stretching his arms and legs before setting off towards the arena.

I jogged for a short while, catching up to him. I scanned the arena ahead of me, wondering if they had also stuck my boys in there.

 **If they had, I would kill them.**

"I think I know the answer"

I turned my head to Danny, not really bothering to ask what on earth the question was. I knew which one it was.

"I think the best term would be the very blunt version that I have heard before" Danny said, closing his eyes. "A love/hate relationship"

I looked down, thinking on the term presented to me. I nodded my head, agreeing with the term. It somehow felt nice, to be able to put a word to the feeling that we both had.

We love each other, yet we hate how much the other is like our previous mistake. We were falling down into the same pits of poison that we called love, and we hated the fact we were repeating the same mistakes.

"I don't want you to be like my boss" I sighed, looking at the floor.

"Yeah, I can understand" Danny said, his eyes still closed. "I don't want you to be like Sara"

"But I am, and so are you"

"And most of all, we don't like the idea of falling in love with someone so alike to them"

"And yet we do"

We both sighed. I could see out of the corner of my eye that Danny had opened his eyes, and was thinking over something.

"Well then" Danny said, raising his arm in my direction. "Let's make our relationship different"

He had raised his arm with his fist clenched, it being directed towards me. He wanted us to fist bump.

My frown increased intensely, and I shook my head at the mere prospect of fist bumping him.

"I don't want to fist bump you"

"You and your boss did that?"

"Yeah, it was kinda our thing"

"Alright then, let's make it different" Danny said, moving himself closer to me. He took my right hand in his own, lifting it up to his face. He brushed his lips over two of my knuckles, before gently kissing in between my middle and index fingers. His lips were chapped, dry and flaky. "The first change will be on me"

* * *

Ninja Brian's P.O.V.?:

There they were, I could see them. I knew finding a lookout point on the roof of this bandit base would provide me with good clues.

Danny and Ally came out of one of the side entrances to that smaller arena in the centre of the base. For some reason, I could sense that they weren't particularly annoyed with each other at this moment. Strange...

Now, how was I going to get both those guys of Ally's out safely while also ensuring that Danny didn't get himself killed? I had the feeling Ally would be able to take care of herself, but Danny always managed to get himself in over his head, that fucking idiot.

It would be simple for me to get in, that was no question. These simpelton bandits couldn't find me even if they purposely looked for me.

But getting those boys out wouldn't be so easy. They didn't have my natural ability to hide in the background or completely eliminate their footsteps or phase through walls.

I mean, I could just kill every bandit in the place. But something told me that would take too long, and be very boring.

Danny would get himself killed before I would be done. And Ally would not be happy if one of her boys got killed in the meantime.

I guess there is that other option, but then my vast array of contacts would dwindle down to almost none. After all, seven was a vast array, right?

Ugh, better to use it and not need it than to not use it and figure out afterwards that you really needed it.

I pulled out my longs range communicator (From where? That's a secret), pulling my mask up so that it wouldn't muffle my voice. I dialled the frequency of 626, and sat down while waiting for them to patch in. Eventually, I heard the static clear.

"Jesus fucking Christ, who in the ever loving hell wants to contact somebody at the hottest time in the day?!" The person barked through the communicator. "I oughta!-Wait a moment... I know this frequency..."

"Hey"

"I thought I made it very clear that I never wanted to fucking hear or see you again!"

"You did"

"THEN WHY ARE YOU CONTACTING ME?!"

"Because I want to call in that favour you owe me"

* * *

Mark's P.O.V.:

"Shh it's okay Tyler" Phil soothed the grumbling boy sprawled in one corner of our cell. "Do you want me to sing to you?"

"No, I want my heat to be done!" Tyler groaned, trying to block out the light from his eyes. "Besides, I don't know how well you sing"

"Do you want Troye to sing to you?" Phil asked, looking over to his curly haired friend across the room. Troye was already busy serenading Connor, who was in a particularly bad state. "Actually, never mind about Troye... Um... Do you want Mark to sing to you?"

"I just said no!"

"Shh, it's gonna be okay" Phil said, moving his arms around the smaller boy. Despite the fact he said that, Phil's face gave away that he was increasingly nervous.

"No it won't be!" Tyler cried out, his eyes welling up with tears. "We're all a mess, those guys outside the cell are giving us dirty looks, and Ally has no idea where we are! We won't be rescued this time! We are hopelessly screwed and lying to me won't help in the slightest!"

Phil didn't say anything, his own eyes seemingly welling up with tears. He bit his own lip to push back the tears, and simply kept hugging Tyler despite the smaller boy's protests.

I turned my eyes away, unsure how I was supposed to help him.

My eyes unconsciously landed on Dan, who was occasionally jumping from PJ to Chris. He was taking out a handkerchief of his pocket and draping it over PJ's face, due to the complaints of the light irritating him. After quickly getting a grunt of approval from PJ, Dan seemed satisfied with PJ's condition.

Dan immediately jumped back over to Chris, and kept checking his breathing and pulse worriedly. Chris had been knocked over the head by one of the bandits and had been knocked out for a good couple of hours now. We still hadn't even seen him move slightly from the position he had been dropped into, and this worried everyone greatly. Dan most of all.

"It hu-hic!-hurts! Ahahowww!" Connor wailed, a hiccup occasionally interrupting his pain filled groans. Troye simply ignored the wails, instead focusing on gently rubbing Connor's back and singing a soothing song to him. I think he was singing some sort of One direction song, and it wasn't making his lips turn blue in the slightest. Which was a good thing in the situation at hand, those bandits wouldn't be doing anything helpful once they realised he could heal people.

"We really are fucked this time, eh?" Jack mumbled beside me, taking a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiping his sweaty forehead. "Chris is knocked out, Tyler is 'aving a tantrum in the corner, PJ ain't any 'elp, Connor is 'aving the worst day of 'is fekking life and all ye Omega are freaked the fuck out"

I patted his shoulder in a lame attempt to make him feel better, but I could tell it wasn't doing much good. He simply sighed, and looked at me with a sad smile.

"Hey, at least you are coming around" I said, looking Jack up and down. He was no longer fully in his heat, due to his cycle being slightly out of whack compared to the rest of them. He was a little sluggish and still had a bit of a fever, but he was definitely way better than before. "I think you are coming out of your own heat"

"Yeah, but at yer cost" Jack said, tilting his head in my direction to show that he was talking about me. "I can smell that ye are coming around yerself"

I knew it. I had gotten a bit of a hint that I was getting started in my own heat when I could suddenly feel the heat a whole lot more at the pyramid. The real kicker was when Troye started to complain about smelling alcohol on me and when Jack was showing signs of getting out of his own.

Shit, this wasn't good. None of us had any suppressants in our pockets, and my smell would be way worse once I was fully in heat. It would spread through the entire base and nobody would be able to resist it.

Oh God no. No no no, this was extremely bad.

"Mark, don't worry" Jack said, seeing the panic start to set in my eyes. "I won't let any of 'em lay a finger on ye"

"I highly doubt that" I said a bit more bitterly than I had meant it. "What can a half heat ridden Beta do?"

"It don't matter! I'll fekking fight 'em!" Jack said stubbornly, trying to flex his arm muscles. His muscles were kinda alright for a Beta, but I think they certainly would be stronger than my muscles when I was in my heat.

"Maybe I can offer a better alternative"

All of our heads (Well, the mostly heat free ones anyway) turned to the cell doors, seeing a kind of petite girl standing there. She had short black hair that was smoothly slicked out of her eyes, her extremely dark eyes looking around at us each in turn.

"That is, if you all are the ones that are friends with the girl with long blonde hair" She said, shrugging her shoulders. "You know, the Alpha girl with the blue eyes and the cloak?"

"You're a friend of Ally?!" Dan said hurriedly, jumping to his feet and pushing himself against the bars as much as he could.

"Well, you could say I am... her ally" She said, clicking her fingers at us weirdly. (She pronounces it Ah-Lie, while it usually pronounced Ah-Lee)

None of us said anything, unsure whether or not we just heard her correctly. Well, besides Phil. He was trying not to laugh in the corner.

"Darn, only that girl and that guy in the corner seem to appreciate my jokes" She said, huffing slightly. "Well, never mind too much about that, do you guys want to get out or not?"

"We thought you'd never ask"


	32. (32) Jailbreak

Mark's P.O.V.: (Thanks to Ash blitz for her OC, Alyssa)

I had my eyes glued onto the girl who had offered to help us out, her still digging around in her hoodie for the specific key that would open the lock on the jail door.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Dan was trying vainly to get Chris to wake up and was occasionally rushing over to PJ to try and get him on his feet as well. Jack was wobbling his way over to Troye, trying to help the weaker Omega with the monumental task of getting Connor to his feet. Phil had Tyler halfway to his feet in their respective corner of the room, but Tyler's exhaustion made it that much more difficult.

All in all, the entire operation would be very touch and go. If Jack and Troye could manage to bring Connor, Phil perhaps being able to hobble along with Tyler, Dan getting PJ's cooperation and stumbling their way out, and me taking Chris on my shoulders, then perhaps we would be able to make it out. Heck, this strange girl might even be able to help Dan with PJ.

"Alright, this key should be the one" The girl said, sighing in a annoyed tone due to the long search. "Now let's hurry up and-

"Eyy! It's the psychotic bionic!" Came a voice from down the corridor. It was a loud and booming voice, and the decibel that he reached with his voice made me want to cover my ears and run from him.

The girl in front of us hurriedly tucked away the keys that she held in her hand behind her back, looking away from him while swearing under her breath. She looked extremely unhappy for him to show up at this particular moment in time.

She plastered a obviously fake smile on her face, turning to a big bulking man who waddled his way into our view.

"I don't think I quite fit that description, as I have told you before" She said, pressing her back against the jail doors. She seemed to be trying to stick her small hands through the bars, waving the keys around frantically. Since I was the closest to the doors, I slid one foot toward her and gently took the small key ring from her. It had around three keys on it, one of them looking big enough to open our door. I tried my best to not jangle the keys as I pressed the small keys into my hand and tried to close my hand around it. She continued to babble as I tried to stealthily step backwards from the large bandit and her. "First of all, I am a psychic and not a psychotic"

What?! A psychic?!

I looked over to Jack and Troye, raising an eyebrow as though I was asking them if I had heard that correctly just now. I mean, your heat can sometimes make you slightly delirious, but never this much.

Their shocked reactions and confused looks between her and me, told me that I wasn't hallucinating in the slightest. That girl had just said she was a psychic.

"And you don't have any robot parts, I know! But you gotta admit, the nickname is cool!" The large man bellowed, slapping the girl not too lightly on one shoulder. He laughed at his own sentence, while the girl was busy trying not to topple over and become part of the floor. While the large guys attention was distracted with his own laughter, I could see the girl snarl at the floor. When he properly looked at her again, she had stuck another fake smile on her face. Sadly, it looked more like a grimace. "Besides, your psychic powers are wicked! Remember that time you told me I would have something drastically go wrong with water, and then I got rained on the next day?"

Dude, that isn't psychic at all. Anyone could make that sort of random ass guess and get it correct.

"Hey, Hey! Make another prediction right now!" He barked, trying to pat her on the shoulder again. She skillfully dodged the arm, trying her best not to snarl at him. Her hair bobbed up and down gently as she did so, but the tapping of her foot gave away her annoyance.

"I need to have some time to make a prediction" She sighed, crossing her arms and generally avoiding his personal bubble. "I can't just magically give you one when you feel like it"

"Aw, really?" He said, his voice taking a whiny tone like a small bratty child would. "Ah, well can you prepare for one some time?"

"If I have time, sure" She said, still avoiding his personal bubble. Eventually she stopped looking down at the ground, and lifted her head somewhat defiantly at him. "Why did you even come here? Surely you didn't think I was here and decided to come and visit me?"

"Huh? Oh, thanks for reminding me" He said, glancing over her shoulder at the lot of us. This was a bad time to be directing his attention to me, my right hand still clutching the keys just behind the girl. I could hear the girl mutter angrily to herself "I wasn't trying to remind you, moron".

He moved his hand to the bars of the cell, and tried to push open the door. It rattled underneath his hands, naturally, and he looked very confused for a moment.

"Why isn't the door open?"

"I didn't open it" She said, giving the jail cell a small knock. "Half of them might be heat ridden, but that doesn't mean I am just going to waltz in there with no problem at all"

"Oh, okay" He said, before turning around and whistling sharply. The lot of us could hear a bunch of footsteps start to make their way towards us, and I could see Dan tense up naturally. "Anyway, open the door for me, we came here to collect the Beta for the brothel"

A brothel... Oh no.

Tyler suddenly clung to Phil tighter, sobbing quietly into Phil's shirt. Phil tried his best to hush Tyler, while looking over to me with scared and fearful eyes. He was shaking his head slowly, as if I had a choice in the matter.

Dan was frozen stiff in between Chris and PJ, unsure what on earth he was supposed to do. He had a complete deer in headlights look, unable to move or even speak. It even seemed like he had stopped breathing for a second, only emitting a shaky breath after a good couple of seconds.

Jack was the only one that seemed to be moving out of us all, rapidly patting himself down and then moving over to Connor and Troye respectively. When he found nothing on the three of them, he moved over to Chris and did the same. Each time he found nothing, the panicked look in his eyes would intensify every time.

My gaze locked onto the girl in front of our cell, every part of me hoping and wishing that she could dissuade him. She didn't look over at us, at first looking over to the many lackies that trailed out into the hallway.

"I didn't realise you needed six people to carry five Beta" She said, stalling for time. Although I was extremely grateful for the extra couple of seconds, I really would have appreciated them all fucking off instead. "I think your maths is a little bit off Tarnock"

"Well, the plan was to only take the Beta back" Tarnock said, laughing loudly as usual. All of us in the cell wanted to do anything but laugh right now, and it felt like a stab in the gut. "But a rumour started to go about that a Omega had a really good scent in here as well, so I grabbed a extra helping hand"

My heartbeat skyrocketed, and I unconsciously twitched. This, unfortunately caught the attention of Tarnock, who fixated his gaze on my face and shoulders.

"Ah, it's that one, is it?" Tarnock said, chuckling in a creepy way to himself. "Gotta admit, he looks pretty buff for a Omega"

My heart lept into my throat, and I ended up opening my mouth only to have gasps and weird sounds coming out instead of a witty remark. My legs started to shake without my permission, and I could feel some of the blood drain from my face. It's just like Bossanova all over again...

Ally, Jack, anyone... Please, please help me...

"You can't take him"

My eyes darted over to who spoke, seeing that everyone else was looking in the same direction. The girl was the one who had spoken up. Thank god.

"Eh? Why not?" Tarnock said, placing his hands on his hips like a big child. "The boss doesn't need them, he only wants Alpha after all"

"An it's not like we dun need 'em at the brothel!" One of the bandits piped up at the back of the line. "We jus' have to make sure dey dun end up pregnant"

"It's none of those reasons" She said, still stubbornly standing in the way of Tarnock and his goons. "It's for a personal reason"

"Eh? What kind of personal reason?" Tarnock asked, earning a roll of the eyes from her.

"Emphasis on personal" She said, raising her hand in air quotes when the word "personal" was mentioned. I could also spy her cheeks slightly turning a very light shade of pink when she continued to speak. "I need him for "reasons" "

All of us in the jail cell immediately could tell what she was trying to suggest, even the usually quite innocent Phil could understand in the corner. It took the bandits a little bit longer, but then they seemed to nod their heads in some weird sort of understanding. It took Tarnock the longest, surprisingly enough. You would have thought the owner of the brothel would know that sort of hints.

"Oh...OH! You want him for that sort of thing!" Tarnock laughed, trying to slap her shoulder once again. She managed to dodge it by mere centimetres, looking a little bit peeved. "I didn't even know you had those sort of urges Alyssa!"

"You don't get permission to call me that" Alyssa hissed underneath her breath, barely loud enough for Tarnock to hear it. "And just because I am a girl or a Beta, does not mean that I don't have urges"

"Go wild! We'll leave him for you" Tarnock said, moving his hand to rattle the cell door again. A good majority of us who could jump in fright did so, wanting to get as far away from him as possible. "Open the door so we can take the Beta"

"Don't you have enough Beta back at your brothel?" Alyssa said, moving her hands back through the bars and wildly waving her hands around once more.

She wanted her keys back now?! Hell no! They could fuck off and fumble with the door for all eternity in my opinion!

"We lost half of them last week because of the rival gang, remember?" Tarnock said, rattling the door again. You could tell the more she delayed, the more he got irritated. "We only have five, and they are being run ragged compared to the three hundred people we have here"

"What happened to your Omega?" Alyssa said, her hand movements becoming more frantic and her voice raising a notch the more he got annoyed.

"We only have one in the brothel" Tarnock said, his attention now fully on Alyssa's face. "Besides, they are often quite difficult to deal with when they get pregnant"

"But female Beta can get pregnant as well, remember? Not to mention-

"Can you just hurry up and open the door?"

I hazarded a look around the room, seeing that nobody had their eyes on me. Everyone had their gaze caught on the impending fight right in front of us.

Nobody would think to look on me, would they? I could just hide it in the back pocket of my jeans and they would never see the keys again.

But then we would be trapped in here, only able to run for it if they ever decided to leave. They could also just decide to shoot us if we grew too annoying for them.

How long would it take for Ally to come and find us? The very fact that Alyssa knew who Ally was meant that she had to be looking for us, right? Maybe just hiding out in the back of this cell would be the best thing.

But then Alyssa would no doubt be killed for standing in this guys way. She might have handed the keys to me at first when she thought it was just a run of the mill visit, but now she honestly couldn't help the fact that she couldn't open the door. And she would get in even more trouble if she admitted to handing the keys to one of us.

Would letting Alyssa be killed be worth it if it meant my friends didn't get hurt? Would I ever be able to forgive myself if my friends got abused the way I did? And would I ever forgive myself for letting my friends get hurt for a girl that we don't really know that well?

Fucking hell, I wish I could just hand this choice to someone else!

Think Mark. Think logically for a second.

Any number of people could have a spare key in this base, they probably won't only have one to this jail cell. Alyssa could still end up helping us escape if she is alive, and could even tell us where Ally might be.

Jack, Troye, PJ, Chris and Tyler. I will do my damnest to get you guys back.

And if I don't...

Then god forgive me.

I moved my right hand quickly, slipping the keys back into her hands. She took it gratefully, and her entire demeanour changed.

"If you would let me get to the actual lock, then I would gladly" Alyssa said, flashing the set of keys in front of his face to prove her point.

Tarnock moved out of the way, and she moved herself to fumble with the lock. As she stuck the key into the lock, her eyes somehow met mine. They were grateful, probably because I had decided to return her keys. But they also looked upset, like she wanted to do anything else than open this door for him. She mouthed an apology, before swinging open the door.

"Alright boys, we don't got all day!" Tarnock said, pointing into the jail cell for them to come in. "Hurry up and grab them before the boy's get crabby at the brothel"

Five out of the six lackeys moved into the jail cell, the final one taking out a hand gun from his hip holster and checking it. The first two went straight for PJ and Chris, who were the closest ones to the jail door.

"NO!" Dan cried, trying vainly to stop one of the two bandits.

He launched his entire body weight against the one closest one to him, trying to punch the bandit square in the jaw. This proved quite difficult for him as the bandit saw this coming, deciding to grab both of Dan's arms and hold them in place. Dan didn't give up, still trying to hit the bandit anywhere in his face, his arms flailing wildly all over the place. One or two did manage to hit the bandit in the face, but it didn't seem to do much. The bandit grew annoyed with Dan, shoving him roughly backwards. Dan landed on his back, skidding slightly on the floor before coming to a halt.

By the time he got back to his feet, the other bandit had already lugged Chris onto his shoulders, while the one he fought with was bringing PJ up and onto his own shoulder. PJ tried to kick weakly against the back of the bandit, but a punch to his shoulder made him stop very quickly.

A bandit made his way calmly over to Phil and Tyler, and Phil only gripped Tyler tighter to himself in a vain attempt to protect the smaller boy in his arms. The bandit got quickly annoyed, deciding to punch Phil directly in his face.

"OW!" Phil cried, moving a hand up to his face to both protect it as well as nurse the injured cheek. The bandit managed to take the moment to grab Tyler, wrenching him out of Phil's arms.

"Let go of me! LET GO!" Tyler screeched, kicking and flailing wildly in every direction to try and get out of his grip. "Phil! Help me!"

While Phil was trying to get Tyler back, Jack had adopted his own fighting stance in front of Connor and Troye. Both bandits that were there to collect the last two remaining Beta were busy laughing at Jack's wobbly stance and drunken look.

"I guess he really is a Irish dude, isn't he? I mean, he even looks-

The bandit didn't have time to finish their sentence, Jack launching a kick directly to the bottom of his jaw. It might have been to try and knock him out, or heck, maybe it was simply to shut him up. Either way, the bandit ended up crumpling to the floor like a sack of potatoes (geddit? Because Jack is Irish? Okay never mind...).

All of the bandits, including Tarnock and Alyssa seemed utterly shocked with the fight in Jack. As they all stared at Jack and the unconscious bandit, I took the chance to form a quick plan together.

"DAN! PHIL! YOUR POWERS!" I yelled from the top of my lungs.

Many things ended up happening in short succession. None of the bandits had ever bothered to learn our names, so they frantically looked around to find out who on earth I was talking about. Once the second bandits attention was taken away, Jack managed to launch another kick, but aimed at his nuts instead. That took another bandit out of play.

The bandit that was carrying PJ got the fright of his life when PJ decided to use him as a beam to spin around on. He ended up twisting himself around the bandit three times in the air before he picked up enough momentum to launch a kick straight to his face. Well, not quite a kick. It was his shin, but I could imagine the pain that would come from that as well. Both him and that bandit ended up in a mess on the floor, but it was clear that PJ had won that little skirmish.

Finally, Dan and Phil had managed to get themselves next to each other. I quickly pointed over to the gun that the bandit outside our jail cell was carrying, just in time before time got slowed down. Dan's eye flashed purple, the whites of his eyes turning the pitch black colour that I had become only slightly used to.

Like usual, the world turned various shades of grey, and Dan and Phil were the only two with colour. Phil had his right hand on Dan's shoulder, trying to use his left to pull the gun with his levitation powers. It took two or three goes, but he got it in the end.

It didn't take long for Phil to bring the gun to himself, and he held it nervously in his left hand.

"When I drop the powers, you bring the gun to Mark immediately!" Dan warned him, looking around at the number of bandits still conscious. "I swear to god, if you trip right now I will kill you"

"I won't!" Phil said, giving a determined look to his friend. Dan sighed, but seemed to accept the fact that things would simply be as they would be.

"Alright, three... two and... one!" Dan said, before closing his throbbing right eye.

It took about one second, before the colour returned. Like Phil had promised, he ran immediately over to me, thrusting the small weapon into my hands. The wrong way around.

It took me a couple more seconds of fumbling around with the weapon, but I lifted the weapon up to my eyes and pointed it at Tarnock. The gun felt so light for some reason and it only occurred to me after a couple of seconds that it probably felt that way due to the weight of that hulking weapon that we had gotten from August back in Hollow point.

Tarnock looked down at me from his hulking height, seemingly finding the weapon in my hands to be more funny than terrifying. His bandits lackeys, all three that were still conscious, were frozen in fright. Phil managed to wrench Tyler back from his

"What are you gonna do with a peashooter like that?" Tarnock said, laughing loudly as though he found it funny. "I'm wearing a shield! You could shoot me all day and-

"You mean this one?" Alyssa asked, holding up a flimsy piece of machinery. Tarnock looked stunned for a moment, patting down his chest as if he was looking for the machinery. It wasn't there of course, but he couldn't have known that.

"You!- What are you doing?!"

"How about I make your prediction right now?" Alyssa said, flinging the machinery over her shoulder sassily. "You are going to experience some pain from a unexpected source"

I squeezed the trigger, feeling it fire in my hands. The noise was deafening in the small space, many of the people around me covering their ears and pulling pain filled faces in my direction. I wanted to be able to cover my own ears, but that would leave me vulnerable, so I had to tough it out and deal with the pain in my ears.

It was quite easy for me to handle the recoil compared to the hulking gun from August. The chamber ejected the casing smoothly, it clinking softly against the ground.

It wasn't like the movies, where people would be confused for a moment before realising that they had gotten shot, and then stare at their gunshot wound before crumpling to the floor. Nope, just plain and simple for us. A gigantic mess that used to be the head, and a floppy body that fell to the floor immediately.

"Holy shit" Alyssa breathed, wiping away small bits of blood off her face. "That is so much more disgusting than I thought it would be..."

The final three bandits that were still awake decided to get the hell out of dodge, one of them dropping Chris onto the mess that was PJ and the bandit he knocked out before all three of them ran past Alyssa down a corridor.

" 'oly shit! Go us!" Jack said, letting out a giant sigh of relief.

"We don't have time to stay and congratulate ourselves!" I said, bringing the gun down and moving over to Chris and PJ on the floor. "Dan, come and grab PJ for me"

"Alright, come on buddy" Dan said, ignoring the blood trickling down from his shut right eye. "We gotta get you up and out of here"

"How are you doing with Tyler, Phil?"

"I've got him!" Phil said, managing to get Tyler in a piggy back position. He nearly lurched backwards with the added weight, but managed to right himself in the end. "Ow, my cheek hurts like heck"

"Jack, go and help Troye with Connor"

"Sure thing!" Jack said, jumping over to Troye, who was already halfway up with Connor.

"And let's just get-oh god- Chris!" I said, heaving Chris onto my shoulder. I struggled to get myself onto my feet, wobbling a little as I did so. "Alright! Let's go!"

"Wait! Please take me with you guys!" Alyssa pleaded, her hands grasping my shirt tightly in fear. "I have never wanted to be a part of these guys! I bullshitted the entire thing about being a psychic and-

"No offence meant, but everyone could see that" PJ slurred, trying to point at her. He kind of failed, pointing over her shoulder instead.

"I don't care about that! I don't even care about you guys trusting me or letting me stay with you guys!" Alyssa pleaded further, her voice once again taking a higher pitch. "I just want to get out, and you guys are my best bet!"

I grimaced, and her frightened look intensified the more she could see that we disagreed with the idea. I mean, sure, Ally turned out to be a godsend. But that didn't mean that every girl that we ran into was a good person.

Fuck! We don't have time to think about this sort of thing!

"You opened the door for them!" Dan grumbled, shifting PJ's weight slightly to be able to balance himself better. More blood trickled out from behind his eye and it was beginning to stain his cheek.

"What was I supposed to do?! Get myself killed?!" Alyssa cried, her voice becoming desperate. She would often have her eyes dart up and down the hallway nervously. "Besides, they would have simply found someone else who could have just as easily opened the door for them!"

"How do we know you won't just bring more of those guys after us once we escape?" Asked Tyler, his voice high and shrill over Phil's shoulder.

"I wouldn't have let you kill a dude in my group if they trusted me or I trusted them!" Alyssa grumbled, her dark eyes looking annoyed as well as frightened. "Look, I don't care if you guys go a completely different way from me once we get out, but if we take too long then none of us will be getting out!"

Silence was the only thing to accompany her question, and she seemed to lose all hope in us. I mean... I honestly have a hard time trusting anyone who has been or is a bandit. Especially after Bossanova, and the fact this girl helped capture us in the first place.

"I trust her" Phil spoke up, causing a good bunch of us to look at him like he had grown a third ear. "I mean, she risked her life to come and help us, right?"

"We don't know her Phil!" Troye said, shaking his head slowly from side to side.

"We didn't know Ally, and she turned out to be the best thing that happened to us in years" Phil said, his eyes set hard in determination. "So I say that we could at least give this girl a chance"

"Jesus fucking... Fine!" I grumbled, readjusting Chris's heavy weight on my shoulder. Jesus he's fucking heavy. "But we really need to go now!"

"Thank you guys so much!" Alyssa said, moving herself beside Dan to help with carrying PJ. "I promise that you won't regret this"

"We better fucking not"


	33. (33) Danger zone

Ally's P.O.V.:

(Flashback) (Ugh, I haven't updated in a while and I start with a flashback -_-)

"Alright ladies, let's get this show on the road" I said, turning to the three men that I had called to help me move that stupid scientists stuff down to another level. Well, only two of them could really help. "I want to get this guy down to another level before he decides to blow up this part of the station, thank you"

"I dunno Ally, explosions are pretty cool" One of the three guys of the group said, his lips twitching immediately into a smirk.

"Ugh, please" I joked back at him, half wondering if he was going to make a big deal about this. "I don't want to have to pull your butts out of the fire again"

He had his usual strange attire, pure white armour reflecting the light above us. The stubble on his chin seemed to twist along with his grin, just giving him a even more teasing and joking look. After I had rolled my eyes, he twisted his cap backwards in triumph.

"Unlike you Jfred, I have a wife that I plan to go back to sometime in my life" said another guy in the group, shaking his head side from side while also holding the same smirk. "So try not to think such thoughts until you also get a girl, okay?"

His attire was the same kind of armour that Jfred was wearing, but his colour was red. It sort of gave him a primal look to him, even if he wasn't glaring you to death. Of course, his joking attitude and tendency to poke fun at people would often throw enemies off. His skin almost seemed to glow along with his armour, and it gave a strange sort of light show.

Both burly men started to bump chests and shoulders in a kind of joking manner, Jfred poking fun at Bryan's hesitation with explosions while Bryan was still poking fun at Jfred's lack of girlfriend/wife. Despite their burly sizes, you could still tell that both of them saw this as a gigantic joke instead of anything really harsh or dangerous.

Which is good, I don't want to find out what two angry Alpha guys could manage if they went on a rampage.

I gently smelled the air, which is what I usually do before meeting someone that I knew. Can't be too careful, we have had people disguise themselves as one of our employees to try and kill my boss before. They always forget to get the correct smell, or they have their smell slightly wrong.

But no, they still had the same smell as always. Jfred had his usual strange mixture of lamb and tomatoes, while Bryan was still overbearing with his bananas and peanut butter. It always had surprised me to smell Bryan, his being quite sweet compared to most Alpha.

Then again, I couldn't really say that. My scent was scented candles after all. Such a manly scent for a Alpha.

"Would the both of you stop messing around?" Said the final member of the trio, his name being Matthias. I remembered distinctly that my boss had disapproved of his name, it being too long in a firefight. Still, we had a million people called Matt in the building. So his name stayed as it was.

"Yeah you two" I agreed, seeing both of them stop their little chest bump fight. "I want to get this done sometime in the next century"

"Yes boss" Jfred teased me, rubbing the top of my head roughly as though I was his enthusiastic child or something.

Dude, just because you two are taller, does not give you the right to make fun of me.

Matthias sighed, shaking his head at their antics. He looked over to me, shrugging his shoulders in some sort of apology. I waved him off, deciding that it wasn't that much.

Matthias still smelled the same as well, his crisp smell of lime with pickles shocking my senses awake. He had gotten in trouble before for accidentally stumbling into a room where a Alpha was in heat. He was extremely lucky that Bryan and Jfred were with him at the time to get him out safely.

"Ugh, lifting heavy things isn't part of my job" Matthias complained as he took the lightest piece of equipment. "I'm a Beta, I look at computers and ensure the security is up to date"

"Hey man, you could use a bit of meat on your bones" Bryan teased, him lifting some gigantic computer that belonged to Nakayama. His shoulders, which Bryan had always shown off in the past, tensed and twisted with every movement. It looked very impressive no matter which angle you looked from. "Come with me and Jfred to the gym sometime"

"Nah man, he wouldn't even be able to lift the medium weight on the barbells" Jfred joked along with Bryan. Instead of hulking shoulders, Jfred had way more in the terms of abs, which tensed as he lifted a big piece of machinery. "Dude is pretty weak for a Beta"

"Both of you stop poking fun at me this instant" Matthias told them off, groaning under the weight of the item he was carrying. "You guys should respect your elders"

"Dude, I'm older than you" Bryan laughed, the computer shaking slightly with the laughter. "You don't get that excuse"

"You guys are both Alpha!" Matthias continued, which only earned him laughter from his two brothers.

"You good there?" Bryan asked me, seeing that I was attempting to take two pieces of machinery at once. "It's not too heavy?"

You could tell from his actions that he worried for me in moments like these just like he cared for his own daughters. Heck, I had even seen him talk to them on a communicator once. He acted the exact same around me.

I guess it's just normal for him to treat me like another daughter of his.

"Yeah, I am all good" I said, grunting once when I readjusted the item onto my shoulder.

"Let me or Bryan know if you need help, okay?" Jfred double checked with me. I guess he treated me the same, having four nieces and all that sort of stuff. "Don't want you to wreck your back like Matthias has"

"Haha, how hilarious" Matthias said sarcastically, rolling his eyes at his younger brother.

"I wasn't joking" Jfred said quietly to himself, Me and Bryan being the only people to hear him.

"Alright, let's get this stuff down to that other level"

"Sounds good to me"

(End of flashback)

"Ah, how beautiful" Danny stated sarcastically, looking around the expanse of the arena. "Sand and random bits of metal construction"

As I looked around, I noticed he was correct in his statement. He arena was very strange in its design, various bits of metal scaffolding all set up loosely around the place. As me and Danny walked across the sand to the relative centre of the arena, we could hear a dull thumping noise below our feet.

"What do you think it is below us?" I asked out of curiosity. "A gigantic trap door?"

"It would be more exciting if it was a lava pit" Danny joked, but stopped the moment he saw my disapproval.

"No it wouldn't" I said, rolling my eyes slightly. "How the hell would they even set up a lava pit in the middle of the desert?"

"To be honest, I have no freaking clue" Danny said, looking up at some sort of balcony nearby to the arena. "I have seen a lava pit in a bandit bosses base before"

"Really?"

"Yup"

We left that discussion at that, instead choosing to look around the arena. Various stragglers were angrily kicking around the place, all of them very angry at the bandits. I counted each and every one of them, the total ending up in the thirty range. Some started to yell at the closed arena doors, yelling about returning their companions back to them.

I guess they are in the same boat as us.

"Are they all Alpha?" Danny asked, seeing me count them.

"They are indeed" I said, the air filled with nothing but Alpha scent. Not a trace of any other scent remained, and I laughed bitterly. "An entire arena filled with nothing but Alpha, how lovely"

I then followed Danny's earlier gaze, peering up at the balcony that overlooked the entire arena. A number of bandits seemed to be gathered on it, them all peering back down at us Alpha in the arena. None of them particularly seemed to be the boss, so I left that as it was.

"Why do you think they left random bits of construction around?" I asked Danny, looking at the various scaffolding around the place.

"Who knows, maybe they hope that we will swing around on them like monkeys" Danny said shrugging his shoulders.

"If PJ was here, he might actually have use from swinging around on those" I stated off handedly. "But seriously, the scaffolding even reaches close to the roof"

"Ah, so it does" Danny said, following my gaze. "Maybe we could use that to our advantage when shit hits the fan"

The sound of a loud speaker being turned on brought everyone's attention over to the small balcony, a dude holding a microphone to his lips. I still couldn't spot the bandit boss out of the lot of them.

Guess this boss is smart enough to hide himself from people that he kidnaps.

"FIGHT TO THE DEATH! THOSE THAT SURVIVE GET THEIR FRIENDS BACK!"

"Well, short and simple" Danny said, nodding his head in some sort of mock approval. "Much better than the long tirade that came from Bossanova"

"You were around when he was speaking about the death rally?"

"Yeah, we were planning on having a chat with him afterwards about something he tried to short change me on" Danny said, putting air quotes around the words chat. "But then you guys showed up, and that seemed like a better idea at the time"

"Do you still think that was the best idea?"

"I'm not quite sure yet, to be honest"

Once it sunk in for the rest of the Alpha in the arena that the bandits were serious, some of them reacted quickly and started to go after the Alpha that looked weak. The ones that didn't react straight away were mostly seen as weak.

And before we knew it, people started being flung everywhere over the arena. Bits of wall were being broken off and being flung as make shift projectiles. Some people started to climb the scaffolding to try and get away from the more violent Alpha, but they all seemed to be getting caught fairly easily.

And so, both me and Danny were eventually picked out to be weak as well. You know, the extremely skinny guy with the Afro and the female Alpha.

A single Alpha started to charge at us, sprinting at us with all his might. He looked a little ridiculous, his mouth wide open and spittle flying everywhere from the intensity of his shout.

I tensed my legs muscles to potentially move out of the way of the Alpha, almost like a charging bull. But it proved to not be needed, Danny reaching into his shirt and pulling out a gun.

A quick shot between the eyes, and our would be assailant was no more. Guess a small handgun is all he needs to get the job done.

"I should have known that you still had another gun on you besides the one in the back of your pants" I said, shaking my head good naturedly at him.

"Just like you still have that very big one hidden behind your cloak?" Danny said, motioning to my back. Bummer, I thought I had hidden the gun from August pretty well.

"How did you manage to see that one?" I asked out of curiosity, reaching around to my back and pulling it from the shotgun holster I still had. I pulled back the chamber, slotting the single round into it before letting it snap back with a satisfying clunk.

"Eh, your cloak was billowing at one point when we were walking before" Danny said, moving his arm to shoot another Alpha that was deciding to come after us. Down in two seconds. "They really should have checked us for weapons"

"They really should have" I laughed, switching the gun to the electric mode. Wouldn't want to waste the perfectly good scaffolding as an escape.

"Well, let's make this a Bonnie and Clyde situation" Danny said, staying close to me as we made our way to the scaffolding. "And get the hell out"

"Do you think we should aim for the people on the balcony?"

"Perhaps, should be easier when we are on the roof of the arena"

Another Alpha tried to hurt us, flinging large bits of broken off wall towards us. I rolled out the way of the projectile, while Danny decided to punch it into dust. Wow, show off.

The Alpha that threw the piece of wall tried to fling another piece at him, and this time Danny tried to duck out of the way. So much for the bravado from earlier.

And of course it ended up crashing into the side of the arena, I was fine with that. What I wasn't fine with, was the following very loud message that blared all over the arena.

"WARNING! WARNING! LAVA PIT MALFUNCTION DETECTED! PLEASE EVACUATE THE AREA!"

Of. Fucking. Course.

"Guess we're using that scaffolding!" I yelled, running in full sprint towards one of the two towers of scaffolding.

"Looks like it!" Danny yelled back at me, running to the other tower.

The rest of the Alpha started to scramble like mad to follow the both of us up, the floor suddenly cracking violently. The cracks started to glow bright orange, steam violently hissing out of them. It didn't take long for bits of lava to start to flow out of the cracks, quickly covering the floor of the arena. Any Alpha that was still on the ground howled in pain, some clinging onto the scaffolding for dear life.

Unfortunately for all of them, none of them had started to climb the scaffolding early enough to get clear. Danny and me started to scramble for dear life as we could feel the bottom of the scaffoldings melt in the intense heat.

I hazarded a glance to the balcony across the arena, but none of the bandits stuck around. They had either run the moment the warning rang out, or they had left shortly after they had yelled their macabre instructions at us. Either way, I honestly couldn't care. Those assholes could get stuffed for all I cared.

One side of Danny's scaffolding started to topple, and he compensated by instead leaning all of his weight on the still relatively sturdy part of it. Mine was slowly sinking downwards, but I thought luckily wasn't toppling in one particular direction.

What seemed like an eternity later in both of our eyes, we made it to the top of our respective scaffoldings. Danny's was now effectively just completely slanting downwards on the right side, and he had to stand funny to ensure he wouldn't slide off.

As we both stood unsurely our our scaffolding, looking up at the edge of the roof, did we realise a big problem that we couldn't have predicted down on the ground.

The scaffolding was too far away from the roof to reach.

Even a running jump, something that both of us were unable to do on our small platforms, would not have us reach it.

I had made a bigger jump once before, but that was on Elpis. Elpis, our moon to exact, has got less gravity than Pandora naturally. Not to mention I had a boost pad to help me, along with jet boots.

I had once done this silly stunt with my boss, trying to see if we both jumped towards each other and using each other to kick off higher. In the end, I was the only one who had made the second jump, my kick launching my boss into the floor. Yeah, he didn't want to try that again.

Neither of us said anything to the either, staring up for a brief moment at our escape slowly inching away from us. Danny decided to speak up beforehand it got even further away.

"Can you jump yours?! If you can jump to the roof from yours, then I might be able to jump to your platform and you can help me up!"

"I'll give it a go!"

I gently tensed my muscles, not wanting to break my platform straight away with the attempted jump. If I did, Danny wouldn't be able to get onto it regardless.

I jumped high in the air, reaching high with my arms. I didn't come close to reaching the roof, swiping the air with my arms.

I landed with a thunk on the unsteady wood of the scaffolding, hearing a big crack run through it. A quick inspection told me that I had caused a pretty deep crack to appear in the main beam of the platform.

"I don't think this platform will handle you jumping over to me!"

"Then what the hell are we supposed to do?!"

Danny's scaffolding suddenly lurched to one side, him holding onto dear life to one side of it. All seemed lost, until I saw a group of guys all gather on the ridge of the roof above here.

"Hey! Dumbass! Try jumping over here instead!" The stranger yelled at him, leaning over the doge with his arm fully extended towards him.

Another two guys I didn't recognise also reached down their arms, but I didn't pay much attention to who they were. As long as they were helpi him, it didn't matter to me who they were. Could be a bunch of sexists for all I care right now.

I looked hopefully up at my side of the roof, but I didn't see anybody hovering above me with ear arms ready to catch me. Jesus, Danny gets three guys to catch him and I get nothing. Very fair.

I could hear the scaffolding that held Danny topple over completely and for a moment my heart rate soared to new heights that I didn't even believe were even remotely possible. This was resolved however, once I looked over at him to check if he was alright.

He was alright, perfectly so. He did look a little distressed from dangling from one dudes arm, but he started to get lifted up when the other two managed to get their hands on him.

"Um, if somebody could come and help me over here? That would be greatly appreciated right now" I yelled up at them, only slightly sarcastically.

The three of them seemed to hear me, and frantically tried to bring Danny up faster. However, this seemed to make them more likely to make mistakes, some of them accidentally losing their grip or tugging at something useless. Geez, are they all Omega or something?!

My scaffolding suddenly lurched heavily to one side just like Danny's had done, and I waved my arms a bit silly in the air to try and prevent myself from tumbling off. Falling into lava did not sound like a good way to pass the time right now.

"SOMEBODY?! ANYBODY?!" I yelled up to my side of the roof, seeing no movement from it all.

With one final lurch in the scaffolding, I made my decision to at least try to make it. A final intense jump that splintered the platform beneath my feet into a million little pieces, a rush of air as I reached as high as I could.

Only to miss the ledge of the roof by a couple of inches.

I could feel myself fall back down, until something suddenly tugged on my arm with the fiercest of grips. Well, I say something, but it was obvious to me that it must have been a person. Or two.

I lurched in the air for a little bit, staring down at he fiery orange hue down below me. I forced myself to look away from it, looking up at my would be rescuers.

"Hey Ally" Someone greeted friendly, if not a bit cheeky. "Need us to pull your ass out of the fire?"

No way.

"Quite literally this time" Another person joked, him also having a steady grip on my arm. Neither of them seemed ready to let go of me anytime soon, which I was extremely grateful for.

"Are you guys just going to dangle her over the lava? Or are you gonna pull her up sometime in the next century?" Another person added, them rolling their eyes at their companions.

"Heh, yes boss"


	34. (34) Welcome to the black parade

Mark's P.O.V.:

"How is everyone doing?" I asked, my voice betraying my current weakness. Chris was still unconscious over my shoulder, swaying as I wobbled from foot to foot.

"I think we're all fine" Troye said, walking confidently with both Jack and Connor in tow. "Phil?"

"Besides my face, all good" Phil said, smiling slightly over to his friend. Tyler was clinging onto him tightly, but Phil seemed to know how to step without tripping over himself or Tyler's limbs. Which is rare, mind you. "Is anyone following us out of the base Alyssa?"

Alyssa twisted her body for a brief moment to look behind her, halting both PJ and Dan respectively. After two seconds of looking, she gave Dan a nod that she was ready and they set off again not far behind us.

"There is nobody following us" She confirmed to all of us. "I think with me leading you guys out, and the sudden emergency caused them to not pay us any mind"

I didn't dare look behind me, the weight change and twisting of my back would no doubt end up with me and Chris in a heap on the floor. I could hear screams from behind us, the sounds of chaos seemingly echoing on for miles.

"What do ye think the emergency was about?" Jack mentioned offhandedly, sparing a single glance back at the bandit base.

"I had heard something about a lava pit?" PJ slurred slightly, trying to vaguely point back at the base.

"Oh, yeah" Alyssa said, seemingly remembering something. "They had made some stupid decision to make a lava pit in the arena"

"How on earth did they even manage to get lava into that pit?!" Dan asked, completely shocked with the remark from the girl helping him carry PJ. "What's more, how did the lava not melt the pit?!"

"Don't ask me" Alyssa said, shrugging her shoulders. "I didn't bother to ask"

"Hey guys, is that our truck?" Phil asked, using his head to motion in front of him. His hands were still full with the heat ridden mess that was Tyler, so he wasn't able to point.

We looked towards where he had motioned towards, and we saw a truck that indeed looked like ours. It seemed to have everything that ours had, a scratch on the back bumper and a dent in one side of the truck.

"How did it get here?" I asked, trying to remember where we had last seen it. The last place it had been was beside that pyramid, and we had been grabbed by the bandits. "Did your lot of bandits bring it here?"

"No, we saw no use in bringing it" Alyssa said, looking just as confused as me with its current location. "We had left it back at the pyramid when we picked up your other two friends"

"You mean Ally and Danny?" Tyler mumbled, vaguely remembering things from before.

"Hey, we thought it would have been better Dan taking it with us" Alyssa said, clicking her available hand at us.

"Did-Did you just make another pun?" Troye asked, seemingly very confused. "Stop laughing Phil! It's not funny!"

"Oh I disagree" Alyssa said, grinning widely as she plucked a small berry out of her pocket. "I think it's berry funny"

Phil tried and failed to hide his laughter behind his hand, the rest of us looking on in disapproval or disgust.

"You carry around berries with you just to make puns with them?" Dan asked incredulously.

"Would you say I am..." Alyssa said, her grin growing wider with every moment that she found another opportunity for another pun. She replaced the small berry with a nut that was also in her pocket for whatever reason. "Driving you nuts?"

"You make one more pun, and we're not letting you come with us" I said firmly.

"I'msorryplzdunkickmeout"

"Good, now just stop until-

"Are you going to beat me to a pulp?" Alyssa said, seemingly not getting the hint despite her earlier statement.

"I thought you just said-

"Let me off the hook, you're being unraisinable"

Each and every time she made another pun, she seemed to magically pull out the item she needed to complete the pun. I would have found it funny myself, if it wasn't for the fact I was in pain and nearly on the verge of collapse from carrying Chris.

"Mark, make 'er stop!"

"Come on guys, juiced this once"

"How in the actual fuck did you hide a glass of juice in your pocket?!"

"I dunno"

"Hey Mango pick on someone else"

"Not you too Phil!"

Both her and Phil finally stopped when we got close enough to our truck, but only because the both of them were laughing so hard that they had difficulty breathing. Jack was trying his best to hide a smile, but it was obvious that he was laughing internally about the jokes as well.

"Hold PJ properly on your side!" Dan complained to the hysterical girl, lurching with the sudden loss of support.

As we got close to the drivers side of the truck, the door suddenly swung open. A well built girl with black hair and blonde highlights swung out to look at us, supporting her weight on the door frame.

"Hey there! Are you guys friends with Brian?" She asked friendly, smiling widely. She jumped out of the drivers cabin confidently, sending dust and various bits of dirt flying as she landed with a dull thud against the ground.

"Suzy! You don't know if they are bandits!" said another voice right behind the woman now known as Suzy.

A guy stumbled out of the drivers cabin clumsily, him also being a sturdily built person. His dark brown eyes darted worriedly over the lot of us, his every action betraying how scared he was because of what we might do to him and his friends. As some of us turned our heads to look at him, he ducked behind the smaller woman in front of him, trying to move his cap further over his own eyes.

"Oh please Jon, do you really think they would be laughing as they came here if they were bandits?" Suzy said, laughing gently as though the mere idea amused her a little. "What's more, why are you hiding behind me? You have more muscles than me"

"I don't like fighting" Jon stated quickly, seemingly afraid of saying anything more. "And bandits laugh a lot when they are thinking evil things"

Suzy snorted lightly, gently smacking his hand away from her shoulder.

As she looked over us all, I suddenly noticed that I really couldn't smell her all that well. I mean, I was never too good at doing that anyway, but this was on a whole other level.

"You're a Beta?" I asked out of curiosity, seeing her eyes instantly dart over to me.

"Sure am, born and raised" She said, puffing her chest out proudly to show her happiness and confidence with her class. Man, if only everyone was as happy with their class as she was. "From the smell of it, you are too?"

"Oh, no" I said, shaking my head at her. I would have shrugged my shoulders at her as well, but Chris made that impossible. "My heat is out of whack"

"Man, I know that sucks" Suzy said, becoming more and more relaxed the more I spoke to her. "Ross has that problem sometimes"

"As much as I hate to interrupt this pleasant conversation" Dan said, rolling his eyes at the idle chit chat. "But Mark looks like he's going to faint soon, so help a little?"

"Oh! My bad!" Suzy said, suddenly noticing the wobble in my arms and legs. "Jon, take the guy off him would you? KYANNA! You come help too!"

Jon didn't seem too impressed with the task assigned to him, but he moved over to help. Jack and Troye tried to look in the truck to see who else was there, but the person called Kyanna either didn't hear her or didn't care to help.

I almost lurched from the sudden weight loss, Chris's weight suddenly being taken by Jon. Jon had grabbed Chris gingerly around the shoulders, transferring him to his chest and carrying him almost like you would carry a child. Despite the ginger touch of Jon, he seemed to take care in how he moved with the vastly taller man in his arms.

"Holy crap man, how are you handling him so easily?" I asked, taking the moment to try and regain my balance. "One would almost think you are and Alpha with how easily you seem to take him"

"Shh! Not so loud!" Jon hushed me, worriedly looking around. Almost as if the guy was afraid to be associated with being an Alpha. Just like Ally in that regards I suppose. "Sorry... I just don't like being called the A word"

"What? Alpha?" Phil asked, as confused as me.

"SSSHHH!"

Phil and me looked at each other, not sure how to handle the skittish Alpha. A short shrug between us was enough to show that we weren't too concerned with dealing with it right now.

"By the way" Jack said, moving with Troye to bring Connor to the main cabin along with the others. "Who do ye mean by Brian? We don't 'ave a Brian"

"Yes we do" Troye corrected him, helping to lift Connor into the main cabin. Suzy stood in the cabin, helping to pull him in. "The guy called Ninja Brian"

"Oh... I thought the dude couldn't give a rats arse about us" Jack said honestly, looking relieved with the lack of weight.

"Guess not" Troye said, moving himself to get Tyler into the truck from Phil. "I'll stay here with the Beta until they feel better"

"Sounds good" Dan said, sighing in gratitude once PJ was taken from him by Jon. "But what are we doing now?"

"What do you mean?" Phil asked, coming over from putting Tyler into the truck.

"I mean, her" Dan said, pointing over to Alyssa. She didn't seem very happy to suddenly have all the attention on her, and awkwardly tried to start a conversation with Suzy. Suzy seemed too busy with yelling at someone still in the drivers cabin. "Are we just taking her along with us? Just like that? Not to mention, where is Ally? Are we going back for her?"

"Ah, my group should be handling that" Suzy said, pointing over to the bandit base still visible in the distance. "They went inside along with Brian to help your girl and Danny"

"She's-... She's not 'our' girl..." I said awkwardly, not really liking the sound of it. It sounded too possessive to me.

"Yes she is" PJ slurred drunkenly from inside the truck, waving his hand dramatically in the air. "She calls us her boys after all"

"But I-

"And we are in a pack with 'er" Jack said, a sly grin coming onto his lips. "Get used to it Mark, she is our girl"

Oh, if only you guys knew. She isn't our girl, she's...

"That's not what I-

"Dude, we can read each others minds" Dan stated simply, also seemingly relishing the moment to poke fun at me as well. "That's only possible because we consider her our leader"

"And I'm telling you, that's not what I-

"Oh my god, she's your leader?!" Suzy asked, suddenly very interested with our conversation. "That's amazing! And adorable at the same time!"

"I'm just trying to-

"Hey Mark" Alyssa piped up, joining in as smoothly as everyone else. "I'd say, you're turning... berry red"

She had taken out that stupid berry again.

"I swear to god I'm going to crush your hand along with that berry at this rate" I seethed, my emotions getting the better of me.

"Sozplzdunkillme" She said hurriedly, tucking the berry back into her shorts.

"Did someone say berry?"

Another person stumbled out of the drivers cabin, this one being another girl. Her dark bronze coloured glowed in the sun and she moved quickly over to Alyssa, her hair swishing from side as she looked at her pocket hungrily.

"It's about time you came out here" Suzy said unhappily, crossing her arms over her chest. "Guys, this is our narcoleptic engineer of our group Kyanna"

"I was getting some well earned sleep, so can you blame me?" Kyanna angrily said, her black hair swishing as she glowered at Suzy. "I barely sleep four hours in fucking four days and you get on my ass because I didn't jump up the moment you called for me?!"

Suzy sighed, holding her face in her hands. Kyanna, now satisfied that she wasn't going to get chewed out by Suzy anymore, turned back to the smaller and slightly confused Alyssa.

"Can I please have that berry? Sugary food is the only way I manage to survive these days, and I ran out today with my stash of food" Kyanna pleaded, taking the slightly smaller girls hand into her own. "I would promise to be your slave for life, but I would likely be way too tired to do your chores"

"Well um... The berry is actually weeks old now..." Alyssa awkwardly mentioned, looking a bit confused with the other girl. "I don't think it would taste good-

"What are you talking about? It looks like a normal blueberry to me" Kyanna said, looking at the berry as it poked out of Alyssa's pocket.

"That's the thing" Alyssa awkwardly said. "It's supposed to be a raspberry"

"Oh..."

"Hey"

Kyanna snapped her head over to the voice, PJ waving his hand out of the truck.

"Get back in the truck PJ!" Dan told him off, which only earned him a disinterested wave of the hand.

"If you're hungry, I have got some raspberry licorice in here" PJ slurred slightly once again. "I got given it hours ago, but you can have some if you want"

"Oh my god, my hero" Kyanna said, abandoning Alyssa and dashing over to PJ. As she ran in front of me, I could smell no scent on her at all. Another Beta.

"You guys seems to be handling the suppressants pretty well" I commented idly to Suzy, and she nodded her head.

"Yeah, we take them in large doses in the morning rather than one every half day" Suzy said, smiling friendly once more now that her friend was satisfied. "The effects remain the same but we get less headaches later in the day"

"Sounds good, we might try it ourselves" I said, thanking her for the advice.

"Only do it if you aren't going anywhere in the morning" Jon commented from his position in the main cabin of the truck. "Otherwise your group is going to hate you for it"

"Hey, who are they?" Phil asked, pointing to a small group of people jogging their way over to us.

Jack, Dan, Phil, Suzy, Alyssa and I looked that way, peering with our eyes squinted in the soft orange light to try and see who they might be. It looked to be around four or five people, some looking more disheveled than the rest when it came to the running.

"WHAT'S THE PASSWORD?!" Suzy suddenly shouted out to the group, scaring Phil from her loud voice.

"ASS AND TITTIES!"

 _"Are you freaking kidding me?"_ Dan thought, the message spreading clear to the rest of us.

 _"Ya gotta admit though, nobody else would have that as a password"_ Jack thought, him quietly laughing to himself.

" _Why are we thinking things all of a sudden?"_ Phil asked, looking between all of us.

 _"Because we don't know if we can trust these people yet"_ I told him, then looking over to Alyssa. _"And now we might be able to discuss what to do with our unexpected rescuer"_

 _"I think we should wait until Ally gets here before we do anything"_ Troye thought to us all, him being close enough that he could hear our silent communications.

 _"Do you think they can think between each other as well?"_ Phil asked, squinting his eyes at the incoming group of people.

 _"Keep an eye out"_ I said, crossing my arms over each other. _"Watch for any sign of them making head gestures or things that make no sense without speech"_

 _"Ya got it"_

 _"Sounds good"_

 _"Alright"_

 _"Give a mental holler if things go south out there, okay?"_

 _"You got it Troye"_

The group of people had gotten close enough that we could distinguish features of the people. The man leading the group was someone with light brown hair, it also having some highlights in it. On either side of him was one man with a deep dark beard and deep hair atop his head, the other having a very light shade of brown.

A little behind both of them, we could recognise Danny and Brian jogging behind them. Despite the fact both of them seemed the least winded, they didn't look in as much of a hurry as the rest of them.

All seemed all good and well, until something major hit me.

Ally wasn't there.

"HEY! WHERE IS ALLY?!" I yelled without thinking, making both Brian and Danny look over to me instantly. The other three men seemed confused with who the hell I was and why I was yelling at them.

"SHE'S FINE! SHE SIMPLY IS TAKING LONGER TO GET HERE BECAUSE SHE HAD TO FIND ANOTHER WAY OUT!" Danny shouted over to me, and for once I was grateful to see the curly haired man.

When the lot of them finally managed to get to us, the first three boys nearly collapsed on the floor in fits of coughing.

"Geez guys, I thought you guys said you could handle a bit of a jog" Suzy joked with them, playfully jabbing one in the shoulder.

The one that had been leading the group managed to pick himself off the floor, moving over to Suzy and hugging her tight to him.

"Love you too, you silly man" Suzy said, giggling as she hugged him back. "Guys, this is Arin"

"Her husband" Arin said, putting heavy emphasis on the word husband. "So don't get any funny ideas"

"We weren't going to" Dan stated plainly, shrugging his shoulders.

"Hmm, how interesting" Danny said, and you could tell by his tone of voice that he was going for the pestering route. Danny, no. "Tell me, did she bite you or did you bite her?"

 **"Excuse me?"** Arin said darkly, looking menacingly over at Danny.

"Well, It's obvious you aren't a Alpha from your scent" Danny said, listing reasons off on his fingers. "Sumac and Beetroot isn't a manly enough scent to really be Alpha"

Arin seemed to not appreciate the prodding and poking, moving with heavy thudding footsteps over to Danny. One of Arin's friends tried to move in front of him to stop him, but this seemed to annoy him further.

"Get out of my way Barry"

"You're upset" Barry said, trying to calmly talk down the pissed off Omega. "I think you need to-

"And normal hierarchy would dictate that a Beta would bite a Omega" Danny continued, obviously not getting the angry vibes at all. "But you still smell like a Omega, which means you bit her"

 _"Should-Should we interfere?"_ Phil asked, looking on in horror at what would no doubt be a ruthless fight soon.

 **"Move Barry"** Arin angrily seethed, shoving his friend roughly out of the way. Barry tried to get back in the way, but his other friend stopped him from moving.

"Ross! Why-

"He's going to do it regardless"

 _"We'll get smashed if we try to get in the way"_ Dan thought, trying to give Danny some hand signals to cut it out. All of us standing there, including Alyssa, tried to do the same.

"What's the matter big boy? Not happy with following the hierarchy? Your pride stop you from being the submissive one in the relationship?" Danny continued to taunt, not getting anyone's hints to stop. "Let me guess, daddy issues because daddy was not happy with having a Omega son?"

We all closed our eyes in time as the sick sounding punch sounded all around us. A crunch, which became a heavy thud against the ground along with some skidding.

Once we opened our eyes, we saw Danny seemingly unconscious on the floor. Three metres away from where he originally stood.

 **"I might not be the most fit motherfucker on this planet"** Arin said, angrily telling off Danny. **"But I sure as hell can beat the hell out of any motherfucker that tries to mess with me"**

"He can't hear you dude..." Ross said, sighing to himself while shaking his head.

Ninja Brian started to poke Danny with some random stick he found nearby, which earned him some pain filled groans. Dude was alive at least.

Suzy stood there, her head in her hands. She seemed extremely upset, not willing to look at her husband at all. He seemed to snap out of his rage filled rampage once he looked over to her.

"Suzy, I-

"You promised me would stop doing this sort of thing!" She wailed softly into her hands, not taking the time to look at him.

Arin tried to patch things up with his wife, Ross and Barry making their way over to us. Danny was being slung over Brian's shoulder when both boys spoke up.

"Hey, I'm sorry your friend got knocked out" Barry said, looking sheepishly at his feet rather than our eyes.

"Don't be" Dan said, crossing his arms over his chest while looking disapproving at Danny's unconscious form. "He always does this sort of thing"

"I'm 'onestly surprised it 'asn't 'appened to 'im earlier" Jack said, shrugging his shoulders. "Ya boss does seem to 'ave some anger issues though"

"That's putting it lightly" Ross said, laughing for a short burst before stopping. "Suzy is trying her best to help him though"

"So, you guys managed to help Ally?" I asked, still not enjoying the lack of her presence.

"See, that's the funny thing" Barry said, looking back at the bandit base. "Three guys we had never seen in our lives before suddenly showed up and helped her before we could"

"What three guys?" Dan asked suspicious.

"I dunno, they had to escape out the other side of the base before we could even ask them anything" Barry continued, still looking over at the base. "Ah! Here they come now!"

As told, we could see a group of four people hurrying their way over to us. They seemed to be in way more of a hurry, someone being piggybacked by one member of the group. I hope it isn't Ally, because that would surely mean she got injured in some way.

The closer they got, the more their features started to stand out. Ally was with them, thank my lucky flannel. She seemed perfectly fine, chatting away with the other two running people beside her as though they knew each other very well.

The one carrying someone was a tall man with dark bronze skin, black hair all spiked upwards in a single style. He was wearing some kind of red leather armour that shined in the sunlight. His eyes were directed straight over at Ally, not really paying any attention down to the ground in front of him. Because of that, he occasionally would trip and have to correct himself moments later. The guy he was carrying on his back was not very impressed with any of it.

The one that wasn't carrying someone was another tall man, this one being Caucasian with sandy blonde hair. He had a backwards baseball cap on top of his head, his leather armour being a shade of white instead of his friend's red type. He was currently busy using his weird hand gestures to make Ally laugh.

The final guy also had sandy blonde hair, looking quite similar to his friend in the white armour. He occasionally would shout something down to his red leather friend, it usually being a plea for the other to slow down in their running. After a couple of uneventful pleas, he instead focused on keeping the glasses atop his nose from bouncing off. His leather armour was a deep shade of blue, making him stand out way more than his two counterparts.

As they got closer, it became more obvious that she enjoyed being around these three. They would make some weird hand gesture as they ran, which would make her laugh loudly and jab them playfully anywhere she could get a shot in.

She looked so happy with them. So... why was I so upset? So angry at seeing some random people I had never seen before make her happier?

She laughed louder with them, than we had ever managed to get. She acted like she trusted them explicitly.

Who the hell are these guys?!

"Mark! Phil! Jack! Dan! You guys are all okay!" Ally yelled once she got close enough to distinguish us, smiling brightly at us while waving at us. The three guys running (Or being carried) all waved as well, despite it being obvious they had no clue who we were. They simply followed her lead.

This only served to sour my mood worse towards them.

The three of them that were running suddenly ground to a crumbling halt, dirt being slightly thrown up in the air from their sudden stop. They seemed to find it funny, them all just laughing and jabbing each other in the shoulder.

"PUT ME DOWN BRYAN!" The one in blue armour yelled, pounding on his friends shoulders and back with his fists. It didn't seem to hurt his friend very much, just served to make him laugh harder.

Despite the guy known as Bryan still laughing, he eventually let down his friend onto the ground.

Ally let out a relieved sigh, looking over the four of us standing the closest to her.

"You guys seems to be no worse for wear" Ally said, nodding her head in approval as she looked over each and everyone of us. "Dan's eye is still slightly bloody but that's fine, Jack seems to be swinging right out of his heat so that's good, and... Oh my god! Phil, did someone punch you?!"

"Oh, yeah" Phil said, placing his hand on the injured cheek. "Happened when someone tried to snatch Tyler from me, but it's not that bad"

"I don't suppose there is anyone I can punch? More specifically, the person who did that to you?" She asked, looking a little peeved back at the base. "Nobody hurts my boys and gets away with it"

"He had run away the last time we saw him" Dan said, shrugging his shoulders. He smiled slightly, trying to hide it behind his arm. Something told me he was silently happy about being called one of her boys. "Honestly, me, Chris and Phil got the worst of it"

"What happened to him?" Ally asked, trying to look into the back of the truck. After she couldn't really make anything out, she gave up trying to peer in. "Chris I mean"

" 'e got knocked out by one of the bandits" Jack said, grimacing slightly at the memory. "Dude 'asn't woken up yet"

"I'm keeping an eye on him in the back of the truck here" Troye called out from his position in the truck. "He seems to be all fine, besides the fact he still is asleep"

Ally sighed softly to herself, obviously not very happy with the end result. After shaking her head, she finally looked over to me.

"It's nice to see that I can trust you to look after the group while I'm busy" She said, smiling softly at me. Her smile diminished when she noticed the tucked away gun in my pants, her face becoming somber. "I'm so sorry that I wasn't there to help you guys"

I wrapped my arms around her, trapping her in a tight bear hug against me. I just wanted to thank her for everything she had done, and for everything she was still doing for us. Lord knows if I had tried to explain it in words it would have been a jumble of words along with hysterical crying. So yeah, a hug it was.

She didn't really hug back, which confused me at first. She forcefully started to shove against my shoulders, and I looked at her in confusion.

"Mark! Yer scent is probably messing 'er up!" Jack said quickly, grabbing onto my left arm and tugging harshly against it. It made me let go of her, more from what Jack had told me than him tugging on my arm.

She flailed her arms wildly once she got free, dashing a metre or so away from us and hurriedly grabbing dust off the ground and shoving large handfuls of it into her nose. After about three handfuls she sneezed loudly, and stopped flinging it around her.

The three guys that she came running with were the closest to her, moving closer and asking is she was alright. Well, the one in blue armour did. The other two started to laugh as though it was the funniest thing in the entire world.

"Doing the old dust bath method?" Bryan (I think that was his name) asked, grinning cheekily down at her. "Man, I remember when I had to do that around my wife at first"

"Shud up" Ally responded to him, but you could tell she was happy due to the smile she was trying to hide. "Han me a tishue"

"I don't have one" Bryan told her, patting the pockets on his leather amour to show his point.

"I have a baby wipe" The one in blue armour said, digging around in the pocket of his pants. "Will that do?"

"Yus, it bill" Ally said, taking the baby wipe from the older man. "Dank you"

"Pffff-Dank! Hehehe" Jack said, laughing softly to himself.

Ally snorted loudly into the baby wipe, laughing softly into the fabric at Jack's remark. Once she got everything clear, she let out a sigh of relief and stood up to look between us and them.

"So! These your boys? The ones you were talking about on the way here?" The one in white asked, gesturing to us briefly with his hand. He sniffed the air carefully, and seemed to think a little over everything he smelled. "I don't smell many Alpha around here"

"These are four of my boys" Ally said, motioning at us proudly with her head. God, her being proud of us made me so happy, giddy almost. "There should be five more of my boys in the truck"

"What about the rest?" The one in blue asked, looking over to Suzy and Arin nearby.

"I think they are friends of Ninja Brian and Danny, who are tagging along with us for a little while" Ally said, looking around at all the people gathered around. "I'm not quite sure why that girl is here though"

'That girl' (Alyssa) raised her head at the mention of her, seeing Ally's confused look in her direction. She waved awkwardly, not sure how to greet her former enemy despite their appreciation for puns.

"I... uh...I asked if I could come along with you guys" Alyssa said, shrugging her shoulders. "I had always wanted a way out and you guys seemed like a good group"

Ally nodded her head, not as approval, but more as a way of showing she had heard her. She seemed to mull it over in her mind, but got distracted when she saw the confused looks from Dan and me towards her chummy pals. Something about them just rubbed me the wrong way.

"Oh! Silly me, we should do introductions" Ally said, slapping herself slightly on the head to show she had forgotten. "These are some old coworkers of mine"

"Bryan" The one in red greeted, looking a little confused when the masked man nearby looked confused. "Why is he looking at me like that?"

"His name is Brian as well" Ally said quickly, to which Bryan nodded his head.

"I'm Jfred" The one in white greeted friendly, flexing his shoulder muscles. He was extremely ripped, which gave me the impression that he probably was a Alpha. "Strongest man in this family"

"Pssh, you wish!" Bryan joked, roughly pushing his friend with his shoulder. Now that I look at it, he was pretty well muscled around the biceps and chest. Great, two Alpha to deal with. As if Danny wasn't enough.

"You guys are brothers?" Phil asked curiously, looking between all three men.

"Me and Jfred are blood related brothers and Bryan married our sister, to my horror" The one on blue said, rolling his eyes cheekily at the thought of the other two being family. "I'm Matthias, Beta with a talent for computers and algorithms"

"In other words, the nerd of the trio" Ally joked, which earned her a mock look of horror from Matthias. "Guys, these are my boys"

"I'm Phil" Phil greeted them just as happily as they had greeted themselves.

"I'm Dan" Dan said bluntly, crossing his arms over his chest. "I am a little cold to people I don't know, but it doesn't mean I hate your guts"

"...I'm Mark..." I said quietly, trying to figure out what on earth to think about them. I still didn't trust them.

"I'm Jack, the Irish one if ye forget my name" Jack said, half joking and half serious. "Ye guys used to work together, right? Was it at that gun company?"

"Sure was" Bryan said, nodding his head. He jokingly jabbed Ally in the ribs before continuing. "I guess Ally must have told you a bunch about herself, huh?"

"Oh, you have no idea..." Jack said softly to himself, his mood taking a slight turn for the worse.

"So... why are you guys here?" I asked, earning me a couple confused looks from the trio.

"We actually were planning on helping Ally once we recognised her coming into the base" Jfred mentioned, tapping his chin in thought. "We were planning on raiding the base for supplies, but her getting kidnapped kinda changed that plan"

"No, I mean... why are you here?" I asked, putting emphasis on the word 'here'. "Why aren't you guys back at the gun company?"

"Oh..." Matthias said, looking suspicious at the line of questioning I was going down. I wasn't going to feel at all comfortable until I knew exactly why they were here. "Well, we actually got fired about a month ago"

"More like we left at the same time as Ally" Bryan said, shrugging his shoulders. "The company wasn't treating her well and we helped her get out"

"How nice of you" I stated, trying to hide the sarcasm in my voice. I didn't like these guys at all, despite their happy attitudes.

 **Nobody else is allowed to touch her.**

Due to the darker looks from the trio, the confused looks from Phil and Jack, and Ally's utter surprise showed me that I must have failed in hiding it. Despite the plethora of looks from other people, it was actually Dan's piercing gaze that caught my attention.

 _"I know what you're doing"_ Dan thought to me, his eyes starting to show anger.

Everyone in our pack heard that loud and clear, everyone becoming more acutely aware of our little thought skirmish. The guys back in the truck were too busy with each other to really pay much attention, and Troye seemed like he was fine with leaving the situation up to us.

Jack and Phil, to my surprise, were both looking at Dan in shock rather than me. Dan started to avoid any sign of looking angry at me, his message apparently sufficiently coming across in his opinion.

Ally, however, was staring straight at me. Her face was a mixture of upset emotions and confusion. She was upset at us arguing, and me not accepting her dear friends.

Her confusion, was something else entirely. There was a single memory playing over in her mind, that she had been stuck on for a while.

That night, when I stumbled into her room. She's convinced of something.

She's convinced I don't remember.

"Whatever, let's get this show on the road" Ally said, still looking somewhat upset with me. "Where are you planning on going um..."

"Alyssa" Alyssa said, finally plucking up the courage to talk to Ally. "And I honestly am planning on getting off at whatever town you feel like, cause let's face it I- why are you tutting at me?"

"It's too long"

"What is?"

"Your name" Ally said, her hands stroking a imaginary beard on her chin. "It'll be way too long in a firefight, do you mind a nickname?"

"I-I guess not..."

"Hmm, how about Lissa?"

"Lissa, huh... I like it"

"Alright, then let's go before these bandits get too interested in this truck with loads of people around it"


	35. (35) You drive me crazy

Kyanna's P.O.V.: (Just for the record, Ally, Alyssa (Now known as Lissa in the story), Kyanna and Jade (The girl introduced in this chapter) are all OC's owned by either me or viewers. OC's are still able to be taken, and I would greatly appreciate any) (Also, Thanks to Irwin.94 for her OC, Jade :D)

"Have you got anymore?" I asked, my eyes scanning over every inch, nook and cranny on the boy in front of me. That raspberry licorice he had given me was a god send, but I could feel the sugar high start to come down.

I could easily tell when I was coming down from my sugar high. The jittery feeling, hands shaking and the empty feeling inside my entire body. Like I could faint within a moments notice.

"Sorry, you took all of mine" He said, his words coming out in a bit of a slur. He must be in the last stages of his heat, the lethargic part. Despite this, I could spy his bright eyes following me attentively. "I can ask Dan if he has more for you"

"I can hear the both of you over there" Said some friend of his, his dark eyes spying me up and down suspiciously in contrast to PJ's. "And we ran out a while ago"

I grumbled to myself, patting down myself for what seemed like the millionth time that day. Still no lumps in my pockets, no hidden treats that I had forgotten.

"Sorry about that" PJ apologised to me as his friend turned away. His friend was already looking tired from attending to the needs of everyone else, and he had seemed a little peeved with the thought of a random stranger asking for some food. "Dan is kinda wary of people he doesn't know"

"I don't blame him" I said plainly, moving random jackets around the place to try and find anything. "Goddamit..."

"What's wrong?" He asked me, bringing my sharp attention to his kind of hazy face.

His eyes still followed me with a passion, like he didn't dare take his eyes off me. As I looked back at him, wondering why I had caught his attention so, did I notice the beautiful shade that his eyes were made of. A mixture between green and blue, causing a mix of sea green in his eyes.

I quickly took my eyes away from his the moment I noticed the slightly puzzled look he was giving me. I was never very good at staring contests in the past anyway.

"You heard from Suzy that I'm a narcoleptic, right?" I asked him, which earned me a low hum as his way of saying yes. Goodness, I had never noticed in the time that we talked that he had such a deep voice. "Well, I use sweets as a way of coping with my stupid sleep schedule"

"Sweets?"

"Yeah, I give myself a sugar high to keep myself going" I said, grumbling to myself once more when I heard my stomach grumble. "And when I feel myself come down, I have to take more to prevent myself from fainting from exhaustion during the day"

"But that would mean you have to be eating sweets nearly twenty four seven!"

"Yup, comes with the package"

He didn't take his eyes off me, and I started to feel uncomfortable under the gaze. I tried to intimidate him by staring directly into his eyes again, but this didn't seem to phase him at all for some reason. I tried to make him slightly uncomfortable (Like I was in this situation), looking up at his curly locks.

A deep dark brown, that curled here there and it seemed to go everywhere. Despite it's seeming endless madness, it seemed to suit him. I wondered if it was soft...

Oh god, way too far Kyanna.

I shook my head quickly to clear my head, looking back at PJ's eyes. He didn't seem at all phased with my staring.

The only thing I could think of to make him even more uncomfortable was if I were to comment about his rampant scent.

Problem was, I couldn't smell anything due to the suppressants I had taken in the morning. Not to mention, my sense of smell was shit anyway. AND, Beta were hard to smell for everyone.

Except when they're in their heat apparently. I don't know, I never really noticed their smells before.

So, that wouldn't work. What else would work? Uuuhhh...

Oh! I had noticed some awkwardness from the other members of their group when they talked about that girl in their group. What was her name again? Lisa?

"So, what's up with that Lisa girl?" I asked, trying to fight off the tired feeling in my eyelids. I ended up pinching myself in the arm so that it wouldn't look like I was falling asleep yet. "You into her?"

"What? Alyssa?" PJ asked incredulously, giving me a look as if to ask what was wrong with me. "No, she's some random chick who helped us out of that bandit base back there! She's not even technically part of our pack"

"Oh, she isn't?" I asked, suddenly feeling very foolish. He still didn't seem embarrassed or awkward at all, just confused while staring at me. "Was she not the girl that you guys were into?"

"Huh? Are you possibly talking about Ally?"

"Ally? Who's that?"

PJ laughed softly, looking up at the roof of the truck. He was talking about that Alpha girl that showed up later? I didn't get a good look at her at the time...

"That Alpha girl?" I asked, not sure about the girl he was talking about. I hadn't got a proper reading on her either with the loose conversations she had with her pack nor with how they teased their friend about her.

"Yeah, she's brought us so much joy in the short while we've known each other" PJ said, his eyes finally drifting away from mine. They softened to a incredible degree, almost as though he was remembering something that made him happy. "She's... She's special to us...to me.."

Oh, I knew that look in his eyes from a mile off. It's the same look my big sister would give when talking about her boyfriend.

He's in love. Like a hopeless romantic.

But his eyes also show a bit of sadness? Not the kind that means he knows she doesn't like her, but something else...

The kind where he knows he's not the only one.

God, I haven't seen that emotion in anyone's eyes in a long, long time. The last time I saw it was in a multiple wife scenario, where one of the wives was not actually happy with her man loving other women.

PJ isn't okay with her loving other men, but he's too afraid to say something. Too afraid that his love will be too much for her to comfortable with.

Wow.

"You really care about her, huh?" I ask him, unintentionally yawning a moment later. "Sorry about yawning, I swear I am not bored right now"

"Well, I can imagine you being tired though" PJ said, his eyes returning to stare at me. Dang it, and here I thought I was rid of them. "You are allowed to fall asleep you know"

"No I'm not" I said, yawning again and trying to hide it. Ugh, my body is so tired. "Falling asleep during the day is not a good thing, especially when I can't control it"

"Well, I mean... we are in a controlled environment right now" PJ said, gesturing loosely around the both of us. A couple of people turned their heads to look our way when he did that, but quickly turned their heads back when nothing important caught their interest. "So it should be fine for you to fall asleep right now"

"I don't want to! I hate my body falling aslee-Hahh...-falling asleep without my permission!" I grumbled, my voice slowly losing it's power over time. Dangit. "Besides! What if we-Hohh...-What if we get attacked?"

PJ let out a quick laugh, one that lasted a mere second. It wasn't one that was mocking me, maybe more laughing to himself about something being familiar?

He reached out a arm towards me, a little shakily I noticed. He tugged strongly on my arm, trying to bring himself closer to me. It was obvious that his heat was still making it difficult for him, just sort of making me lurch now and then on the spot.

I rolled my eyes at him, and moved to sit beside him. Heck, that was what it looked like he was trying to do.

As I sat beside him, he moved his hand away from my wrist. He instead used it to bring both of our heads together, his hands getting slightly integrated into the locks of my hair.

I could feel his curls against my bare head. They were softer than I thought they would be.

"Go ahead and fall asleep" PJ said softly to me, his voice reaching a new low that I had never heard before. It sounded so smooth, so calm. "I'll watch over you and keep you safe"

Oh my god, his voice is so calming...

So calming...

So...

Lissa's P.O.V.:

She fell asleep so easily. Kinda funny, especially when you think about how much she protested about how she hated falling asleep. She looked so peaceful resting against PJ.

I guess PJ just managed to have that magic touch that could help her get to sleep.

Hehe, magic touch.

My snickering brought the attention of one of Ally's "boys" over to me, his dark brown eyes full of wariness. I think his name was Dan.

I found myself looking back at him, seeing the searching gaze sweep over me. He didn't take long to decide that I apparently did not do anything warranting his attention, and returned to his unconscious friend on the floor of the truck.

I found myself looking around at the other members of Ally's group. I knew them the best out of the entire truckload of people in here after all.

One of her friends, I think they referred to him as Chris, was mumbling something to Dan. Which is good, because for the last couple of hours he had simply been comatose.

PJ seemed perfectly fine in his little world across from me. Heck, the dude still has moves even when he's in heat.

The one called Tyler seemed to be steadily recovering, holding a ice pack he got from that Alpha dude. You know, the skittish one that didn't like being called a Alpha for some weird reason. Lifting a truck sounds awesome dude.

That other Beta, what was his name again... Jack? Yeah, he seemed to be getting better and better by leaps and bounds. Dude didn't even look like he was in his heat anymore.

"Hey there, how are you feeling?"

Speaking of one of her boys, here comes one. The dude who loved my puns.

"Hey um... Phil was it?" I asked, trying to look as friendly as I could. I knew that his entire group voted for not taking me with them, so I knew I had to get on their good side fast. "Sorry about getting your group caught..."

"Well, you helped us out of there" Phil said, smiling calmly at me. He came closer to me, sitting beside me and leaning against the truck walls like I was doing. "That's a lot more than you could have done"

"I could have simply not gotten you guys caught"

"True, but the fact that you can see that makes you aware of your mistake" Phil said, not missing a second to explain the situation from his point of view. "Everybody has the possibility of making mistakes in their life"

"But I-

"There is a big difference between taking responsibility and becoming a good person afterwards" Phil said, his voice taking a more grave version from his normal one. "And simply pitying yourself over your own mistakes"

"I'm not-

"Then stop lamenting over what you have done wrong"

"...Alright..."

"Good" Phil said, looking very proud of himself. He smiled around at all of his group, even those that didn't seem able to even give him the time of day. "Everyone's alright, and that's all I want"

He looked so happy, so blissful despite the hell that he went through. Heck, his cheek was still looking very beat up and bruised from his punch.

I unconsciously moved my hand to his cheek, feeling the rough and tender skin underneath my fingertips. He recoiled a little in the beginning, no doubt from the pain and the surprise.

His eyes didn't know what to make of me.

"Does it still hurt?"

"Not as much as it did at first" Phil said, laughing a little as my fingertips tickled his sensitive skin. "The praise from Ally helped tremendously with that"

"She praised you?" I asked, very confused with his 'praise'. "Last I checked, she just mentioned something about wanting to punch the dude who hit you"

"Yeah, she had said that out loud" Phil said, soon moving to hold his index finger against his head. He tapped it against his head once or twice, obviously to show that he was talking about his brain. "But on the inside... she had a mixture of emotions all inside her"

"Oh, that's right! You guys are in pack, right?" I asked, remembering what my father had once told me about a old pack of his. Apparently you could feel what your other members felt, what they thought, everything. He nodded, which reaffirmed my belief. "What was she thinking?"

"Well, she wasn't really thinking about much to be honest" Phil said, looking up at the roof. Oh yeah, Ally was on the roof right now huh? "But, she was so proud... welling with pride because I stood up for myself and Tyler"

There was something in his eyes at that very moment. Not literally as in he got something stuck in his eyes, like tears or dirt.

But, more of a look that he was giving at that point in time. I had never seen such a look in my entire life.

Well, never directed at me anyway. Not from my family, and certainly not from him.

He looked so happy. So blissful. All because Ally was proud of him that one time.

"She means a lot to you, huh?" I asked, seeing his head turn to look at me.

He looked up at the roof, as if to ask himself if that was true. A sly smile crept onto his lips, looking down at his own feet in a somewhat confident and self assured state.

"Yeah, you could put it like that"

Why did that goddamn look make me so goddamn suspicious?! It's like the guy was trying to hint about something that only he knew about or something...

"Urrgh... whadafuck..." I heard someone mumble nearby.

Both me and Phil turned our heads to the former lifeless lump on the floor that was Chris, Dan suddenly looking very shocked and pleased at the same time.

"Guys! Chris is awake!" Dan said excitedly, pointing down at his friend on the floor.

"Ohmygod...not so loud..." Chris mumbled, trying to haphazardly slap his friend on the arm. He failed, and returned to groaning on the floor.

"Really?!"

"Awesome!"

"That's great news! Someone tell Ally on top!" Mark said, jumping up and trying to yell to the people in the drivers cabin.

"Owww... I said not so loud..."

?'s P.O.V.:

It's so hot. Oh my god it's so hot.

I scrambled around in the glove box of my car, grabbing out the plastic bottle I had stored in that confined space. My gun that had been stored in the same place clattered noisily against my car seat as it fell out, but I paid no attention to it.

I twisted the bottle open, throwing my head back with my lips over the ridge of the bottle. Nothing.

I let out a cry of frustration, trying to twist the keys to my car in the ignition again. It ended up being the same useless stuff that had happened the last time. A couple of splutters before I stopped trying.

Oh god, was that that advice that I saw on that projector at town again? Something stupid on some universal show about how you had to stay with the car.

I tried to angrily slam my fist against the steering wheel, it only bouncing off it weakly.

Geez! How boring! It didn't even honk or something like that!

Think a moment Jade, you need to be able to pull yourself out of something like this. I know that I'm out in the middle of the desert with no water, no communication, no food...

UGH! I WANNA EAT SOMETHING!

Wait a moment, what's that noise? A truck?

...This might just end up being a situation I can get myself out of...

Guess it's time to meet them.

Ally's P.O.V.:

The sand looked so weird in the dim glow of the sun, like little specks of magic dust that flew around our truck. If only they could magically teleport us to a place where I don't have to be on edge twenty four seven.

"Ow..."

I looked over to the groaning Danny, him still writhing in his comatose state on top of our truck. Heck, it was a wonder that he hadn't fallen off so far.

Brian seemed to be enjoying himself. Instead of flinging rocks off the side of the truck like last time, he was busy poking Danny with some random stick he had seemed to acquire earlier.

"Is that funny Brian?" I asked, and I only got a shrug from the masked man. It felt weird, knowing that he would talk to me and chat normally when we were alone in that pyramid. I wonder if he would ever do that again? "Oh! I hadn't even thanked you yet for getting those reinforcements to help us out back there"

He waved it off, clearly not too concerned with hearing my praise or thanks for his deed. I guess he found it good enough that we still allowed him and Danny to come along with us.

Speaking of people coming with us, when were those allies of his going to leave?

It wasn't like I hated them or anything, I just felt uneasy with the increased numbers. I didn't know any of them in terms of loyalty, let alone how well they could look after themselves.

So far my boys had done a good job of keeping themselves safe, but I didn't want to take the chance of them getting hurt simply because of a mistake these new additions made.

And well, I knew Bryan, Jfred and Matthias like the back of my hand. Heck, they had helped me through thick and thin back at Hyperion. But it was obvious that Mark suddenly had a intense bad feeling about them.

I thought that all of us Alpha being on the roof would put some people at ease. So far, everyone was extremely on edge. It would only take a single spark to ignite the burning hatred in the air.

And here I thought I left all thoughts like that far behind me.

I sighed loudly, putting my chin into the palm of my right hand. This caught the attention of my old trio very quickly.

"Something up?" Bryan asked, slightly leaning upwards from his sprawled out position on the truck.

"I'm just thinking over all the things that I need to handle for this group to be safe"

"I'll bet! You went from a group of about twelve to a group of twenty one!" Jfred laughed, harshly slapping me on the shoulder like he always does. "I mean, you know three of the new arrivals, but it's still a tremendous amount"

I didn't really respond, suddenly feeling the glaringly harsh stare from near me. I turned my eyes slightly, seeing Brian looking at us with a really harsh look.

I guess he found it suspicious that I knew these three?

If it was Danny that had heard me introduce them as my former coworkers, then maybe I could understand his reasoning.

That time, in the pyramid. Was Brian hanging around in the shadows? Had he heard the both of us talking?

And if he also heard me introduce these three, then...

Great. I might have a fight on my hands.

And internal war from the middle of our group out.

"So, what are you actually planning on doing?" Matthias tried to whisper to me. Brian's eyes shifted over to him, and I got the impression he could hear every word as if it was shouted at him. "I know you consider those nine 'your pack', but it will get really confusing if we don't start to cut people loose after a while"

"We aren't cutting my boys loose"

"Al-...Alright... How about that ninja and his violent friend?"

"Danny and Brian are useful allies"

"And that girl from the bandit base?"

"Lissa is getting dropped off at the next town"

"And those friends of Brian?"

"Probably drop them off at the next town as well"

"Ally, that still leaves us with fifteen people!" Matthias tried to whisper in a annoyed tone. "That's far to many to remain undetected out in the desert with no jamming signals"

"Relax bro" Jfred said, not particularly caring for whispering to his brother. His old attitude of taking things easy seemed to come to the fore again. "We'll handle things as they come"

"That's easy for to say! You guys can throw trucks!"

I tried to block out the loud arguing and loud laughter between the trio near me, instead focusing my attention over on Brian. His eyes seemed to tell me that he wasn't happy with our current discussion, but I guess I got some brownie points simply for stating that he and Danny were useful to me.

I was about to ask Brian a question, when I noticed a small black spot in my peripheral vision. Both me and him suddenly shifted our attention over to the black spot, seeing a small black convertible car a bit of a distance away from us.

"What on earth?" I wondered to myself, peering at the car. It didn't seem to be turned on, just remaining still in the glow of dusk. Not to mention, was that a person waving at us from outside the car?

"HEY ALLY!"

I looked over to the drivers cabin up front, quickly crawling over to see what the person wanted. I swear, if they are complaining about us talking too much, I'm gonna be pissed.

Ross was hanging out of the window, reminding me of how Troye had done it earlier in the day. Except Troye hung out of the window with just his own upper body strength. Ross seemed to have someone holding him around the waist so he wouldn't tumble out.

"I thought you might want to know! Your friend Chris has woken up!" Ross shouted, excitedly pointing over to the truck.

"Perfect! While you're out here, tell whoever's driving to stop over at that black car over there!" I shouted back to him, which naturally got him to try and see what I was talking about.

"Why do you want to stop there?!"

"There might be some supplies! Besides, I think I see someone waving for help!"

* * *

The truck rumbled to a stop, and I could see the confusion in all the other Alpha's eyes. Well, I didn't actually know if Brian was a Alpha or not. He's still a mystery in that regard.

Not to mention Matthias isn't a Alpha. He was just hanging around on the roof because he wanted to stick close with his brothers in arms. Both literally and figuratively.

"Why are we stopping?" Matthias asked, looking over to the car in the distance. "Please tell me it's not another person you feel like you have to help"

"The world is a cruel place" I stated simply, feeling the four aware people follow my every move. "Even if it would bite me in the bum someday, I'd like to think that I could help someone in their time of need"

Without asking for their permission, I jumped off the roof of the truck. I landed harshly on the dry earth beneath me, it flinging up dust and sand like any other time I had done it.

I looked over at the car, seeing the person stand in front of the car. It seemed to be a young girl, around my age.

Maybe a bit older.

She had a gun raised to my head, no doubt wary of who I might be or the damage I might do. But the wobble in her arms made her aim bad, and the look in her eyes was a pleading one. Not an angry one.

"Hey there, you need some help?" I asked, seeing her lower her gun as a response.

"Ha, you could say that..." She said, stumbling her way over to me. I could smell her scent wafting around her like a gale force. Cinnamon and strawberries.

It wasn't a frenzied kind of scent, like one that a Beta would have in their heat. And there was no way she was so out of whack that her heat wasn't going on right now if she was.

It wasn't manly enough to belong to a Alpha, and the intensity put the final nail in the coffin as to her class.

She was a Omega.

"It's kind of dangerous to be out in the desert with no water, no transport or allies to help you out" I said, laughing a little sarcastically to myself. "Then again, I've done stupider things in my lifetime"

"Hah, it's like you took the words right out of my own mouth..."

"So, you wanna come along for a bit?"

"That would be amazing" She said, laughing before tucking her knife and gun away. "As long as you guys aren't bandits of course"

"No, we aren't" I said, shaking my head at the mere notion. "I absolutely despise bandits"

"Then we'll get along just fine" She said, stumbling her way over to me. "I'm Jade"

"Ally"


	36. (36) Lake of fire

Kyanna's P.O.V.: (The picture is of Jade, our newest addition to the crew) (OC's are still welcome)

Night had fallen yesterday, with nothing really eventful happening in that time. After my four hour nap next to PJ, my body stubbornly refused to fall back asleep when the sun went down. As usual.

And of course, I couldn't figure out what on earth had lulled me to sleep the first time. So there I was, stuck just staring at all of the other people sleeping soundly in the back of the truck.

I grew bored of staring at people in the truck, eventually deciding to go out for a midnight stroll as I usually would do. One can only stare at other people so long before getting bored. It occurred to me that the Alpha girl, Ally, was surrounded by exceedingly attractive people. All of her 'boys' were very pretty, far more than any random people I had ever stumbled onto myself.

Heck, even her three new companions were pretty good looking. And that girl we had picked up yesterday.

I wonder if she was aware of this fact.

"Why are you awake?" Came a hauntingly calm voice from the top of the truck.

I had spun around in a frenzy, expecting some stranger to be on top of the truck. But no, it was simply one of those three men that had helped Ally at the bandit base.

I hadn't really heard his name properly before. All I knew about him is that he was friends with Ally and those other two guys.

That, and he has the same skin colour as me. Literally nothing else.

"Did you not hear the millions of times that people have mentioned that I'm Narcoleptic?" I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes at him to show my displeasure. "It's like I'm going outside to try and kill your girl"

"What? Who are you referring to by my girl?" He asked, his eyes streaked with confusion.

"You know? Ally?"

"Pfff-Where the hell did you get that impression from?!" He laughed, finding the suggestion to both be horrifying and amusing at the same time. He shook his head before continuing. "Hun, I am quite certain my wife would kill me if I did anything beyond fatherly with Ally"

"You have a wife?!"

"Yeah, three daughters as well" He said, a grin now over his features instead of the glare and suspicion from before. "Ally has met them before too"

"So, let me get this straight.." I said, trying to choose my words carefully so as to not offend or anger him in any way. I preferred the guy as he was right now, joking and happy rather than what he was before. "You have a wife and three daughters back home, so why are you wandering around on Pandora with Ally rather than being with them?"

I apparently had not been careful enough with my words, his frown and glare returning to his face.

"Just don't go sneaking around at night" He warned, not saying anything more to me. He pulled himself back over the ledge of the truck, disappearing from my view.

And with that warning, I had decided to stay inside the truck. It was boring, but I preferred it over possibly being shot in the head by a twitchy person on top of our truck.

"Come on guys! When are we gonna get another chance to go out and dip in the lake?!"

A lot of people groaned at the exuberance of our new girl, some still just recently getting over their heat. I was one of those people, but I always felt like shit when I didn't have lollies to gorge on, so that made no real difference to me.

Eventually, people did start to file out of the truck. The people who needed to take their suppressants did so. One of Ally's Omega had to take one, him flaring up into his heat early apparently.

As usual, Jon lined up in the line to receive one despite his heat being nowhere close. He always had hated his own smell.

"So who's staying at the truck?" Ally asked, not wanting a repeat of what had happened yesterday. I didn't blame her.

"I'll stay" I offered, not really feeling up to possibly falling asleep in the water. No surprise drowning for me, thanks.

"You go ahead with them Kyanna" Suzy offered, gently holding my shoulder and squeezing it affectionately. "Me and Arin can stay with the truck"

"But I'll probably-

"We insist Kyanna" Arin said, moving closer to his wife and snaking a arm around her waist. She giggled at him, before he got a sleazy grin on his face. "The both of us want some 'catching up' to do"

Gross. Yeah, count me out of that as well.

Possibly drowning sounds way better than hearing your boss and his wife go at it.

"Come on K-bun! It will be awesome!" Said the new girl, I think her name was Jade? "If you don't know how to swim, I'll gladly teach you!"

K-bun? (Both of them pronounce it as Kay-bun)

"I know how to swim, I just spontaneously fall asleep"

"Oh! Then you probably just need a body guard to stick with you, huh?" She said, giggling at me. She was very hyper for someone being in the early stages of their heat. "Just take one of Ally's hunky boys, they'll keep you afloat"

She kept winking at me in weird ways as she said that.

"I heard that" Ally said, but you could tell she was trying to fight the smile on her face. "My boys aren't toys you know"

"Sure, but you'd lend one to K-bun so that she wouldn't drown, right?" Jade said, seemingly enjoying herself around us all.

"Who knows? Maybe K-bun needs a dip in the lake here" Lissa said, a grin coming across her features as we got closer to the water. "After all, it looks like she's having a bad hare day"

All of us girls could hear a giant groan of annoyance from one of the boys far behind us. Probably from Danny, he seemed to hate Lissa's puns the most. Or Mark, he seemed to dislike them as well.

"Why are you all calling me K-bun?"

"Probably cause you're cute" Said Jade, giving me a mischievous wink before running off to the water. "Last one in is a rotten skag!"

Ally's P.O.V.:

I scoffed at the notion of being the last in the lake, dashing off full speed after Jade.

I won by a landslide, naturally because I was the one built for running and exercise than the others. Plus, my legs have strong muscles that I have built on for years now.

I turned back to look at Jade being the second in the water after me, Lissa coming in third place after she properly got going. Kyanna didn't seem to be in any hurry whatsoever, taking her time to walk down to the waters edge.

We girls had gotten a big headstart on the boys, us all being changed into swimsuits that Suzy had packed. Why she had packed them was a mystery to me, but I wasn't complaining.

The boys were stuck with the option of not swimming or stripping down to their boxers and going for a swim regardless. And due to the fact everyone stunk to the high heavens, people did not want to skip out on this chance.

Unfortunately for both Jade and Lissa, Suzy's size swimsuit did not quite match them. Jade had abandoned the bottom half of her blue two piece bikini, instead deciding her shorts from her day to day life were good enough for this.

Lissa on the other hand, simply kept readjusting the loose black strap on her one piece swimsuit. I guess it shouldn't have surprised me that she chose the colour black, she seemed to really like that colour.

Kyanna had refused to wear a swimsuit, just going for a dip in her shorts and tank top was good enough for her.

I looked somewhat embarrassed down at my own choice. A white two piece bikini that would surely go see through once I started to swim.

Ugh, maybe I should have gone with the diving suit instead.

"What's wrong Ally?" Jade asked, seeing me look at my swimsuit in a unhappy fashion. "You worried about showing too much skin?"

"Something like that" I said, laughing awkwardly. "It's white"

"You don't like the colour white?" Jade asked, not getting the connection. For a hyper and joking girl, she didn't seem to get this one that well.

"White and water" Kyanna said, trying to help along Jade's train of thought. Jade seemed to be trying her hardest, peering closely at my swimsuit.

"Instant strip show" Lissa said, and Jade finally uttered a soft "Oh".

"Well, I mean..." Jade said, trying to put a positive spin on it. "Your boys will love it?"

"But that's the thing! I don't want to come across as if I am doing it by accident!"

"So it would be fine if it was on purpose?" Lissa asked, a sleazy grin across her face. Oh my god no.

"No! I meant- I just worded it wrong!" I said, trying to get my thoughts in order. "I am fine with doing such a thing, but not in public"

"Just ask for one of the boys jackets when you come out then" Kyanna said, yawning loudly. "I'm sorry, I swear I'm not bored"

The rest of us girls laughed softly and waved her worry away. Even Jade now knew about how Kyanna was a narcoleptic.

"Hey Kyanna! There's a rock outcrop out that way!" Barry shouted out to Kyanna, pointing over to a big bunch of rocks that looked over a deep part of the lake. "Me, Ross, Jon, Brian and Danny are gonna head that way! Wanna come?!"

"Sorry girls, I would love to hang out longer with you three" Kyanna said, turning to us before making her way over to them. "But I have to make sure that my group doesn't get themselves killed doing something stupid, I'm sure you can understand"

Something told me that that last comment was directed towards me. It would make sense, due to the fact I didn't think either of the other girls had a group or pack to call their own.

"Why are Brian and Danny going with you guys though?" I asked, confused with the idea behind it. "I thought Danny would annoy the living daylights out of them"

"I think they have to discuss something or other" Kyanna answered, shrugging her shoulders without a care in the world. "I honestly don't know or care"

I looked on at the retreating groups form, slightly worried about the way they walked. They seemed tense, minus Kyanna. Something was not quite right going on, but I didn't feel comfortable trying to follow behind them. Tensions were high enough between both of our groups anyway.

" _Do you want me to go with them?"_ PJ asked, seeing my gaze. _"I can feel that you're worried"_

 _"I don't think that's a good idea"_ Dan said, shaking his head softly. I see that he still hasn't gotten in the habit of not moving his head when conveying his thoughts. _"They have at least two Alpha with them, if you don't count Brian, and we don't know if they mean well yet"_

 _"What the hell do you guys mean with that?!"_ Chris thought, seemingly angry with the conclusion. _"What kind of evil villain would help out someone just to hurt them later on?!"_

 _"Chris has a point you guys"_ Tyler thought, suddenly noticing the weird looks that Lissa and Jade were giving us. _"If they wanted to hurt us, they would have done so already"_

 _"But-_

 _"Knock it off, all of you"_ I said, deciding to take charge. _"Jon is a skittish Alpha that couldn't hurt a fly, Danny is annoying but he is on our side along with Brian, so it should be fine for PJ to go if he wants to"_

 _"Alright, I'll get out of dodge the moment anything looks suspicious"_ PJ thought, giving us all a small smile before beginning to jog his way over to the group slowly retreating from our view. He seemed to be in a much better state than yesterday, and he seemed to have picked back up his natural ability to use his strong leg muscles.

"What the hell was that all about?" Lissa asked, looking confused. "It looked like a giant game of telephone with only head movements and eye movements"

"You haven't been in a pack before, have you?" Connor asked, putting his foot in the water to feel the temperature. "Oh my god that's cold!"

"No, not really" Lissa admitted, fiddling with her swimsuit strap once more. "Why?"

"Because a pack has this sort of ability to communicate between each other with just our thoughts" Troye said, stretching his arm muscles. "We can understand what the others are thinking, what they are feeling-

"Does that mean if someone is thinking pervy thoughts that you all can sense that?" Jade asked, grinning widely. After a couple of the boys proceeded to choke on their own spit, she laughed loudly and tried to splash a couple of them with water.

"Let's find out" Chris said cheekily, suddenly thinking very hard about something.

He wasn't telling us something through his thoughts, that was certain. He was thinking about water?

"Chris" Jack tutted, trying to catch his attention.

And a swimsuit?

"Chris, stop" Dan tried as well, clicking his fingers in front of his face.

Oh. He was thinking about a combination of water and a swimsuit.

"Chris!" Tyler said, laughing a little from the thoughts.

He was thinking about a combination of water and a swimsuit. On me.

Wow, the way he was thinking about the curves on my body was coming through loud and clear.

"CHRIS!" Mark yelled, trying to get Chris to stop through his words. Chris simply smiled cheekily at him, and Mark shoved him roughly onto the sand.

"Guess that answers that question" Chris said, looking very proud of himself on the sand. Heck, he looked so proud of himself, he didn't even look like he was going to get up anytime soon.

Lissa looked like she wanted to be anywhere else than with the horde of angry and laughing boys, and she retreated slightly out of view. She moved instinctively over to Phil, who seemed to be looking over at Bryan, Jfred and Matthias. The three of them also seemed like they wanted some piece and quiet.

"Hey, Ally?" Phil asked, quickly earning my attention. He got a slight fright when Lissa bumped into him, but he recovered quickly. "Those three guys are your friends, right?"

"Yeah, we used to get into all sorts of trouble together" I laughed, remembering some of the crazy situations we had gotten stuck in. And I wasn't even counting the lava pit from yesterday. "How come?"

"They just- They seem to be quite lonely"

"Lonely?"

"Yeah..." Phil softly spoke, almost as though he was afraid of speaking louder than a whisper. "It seems to be that they don't know what to do when you hang out with us instead of them"

"I guess" I said, looking at the three older men retreat. They were old enough to know when to voice their unhappiness with a situation, but it would seem that they had difficulty doing that at this point. "Why? Are you curious about them?"

"Of course! They seem like nice people to me" Phil said, slightly frowning. "I guess the only way to make them feel at home is if they become friends with us as well!"

"Ten outta ten logic right there" Lissa laughed, jokingly poking Phil in the shoulder. Phil laughed with the slight prod, poking her back in her own shoulder.

"I'm going to go and make friends with them" Phil said, turning to me for approval. "Do you mind if I do?"

"Not at all"

"Hold up, I'll come with you!" Lissa said, moving quickly to match Phil's long strides. Dude may be a Omega, but he had legs for days after all.

I looked at the both of them as they walked that way, seeing the way Phil would naturally talk to her. She would respond with something joking, and the both of them would laugh.

Hmm. I might be jumping to conclusions, but they seemed to hit it off well with each other.

Good for them.

"Come on you guys! The water isn't going to get any warmer!" I could hear Jade yell, trying to splash some of the reluctant boys still only in the shallows of the water. None of them had gone beyond knee height, while Jade was happily at neck height. "If anything, the water is going to get colder the longer you wait!"

"It's not that! We just can't..."

I came back over to the lot of them, wondering what the hold up between all the boys was. I looked over to Jade, who was making her way out of the water with a slightly concerned look in her eyes.

"None of you can swim?" I asked, looking over them all. Nobody really responded, just avoided all form of eye contact between me and Jade.

Jack started to play with his fingers, trying to find comfort there. Mark started to laugh softly to himself, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. Dan was pulling some weird face, once that didn't really make much sense to me. Troye was playing with the water, pretending to not have heard me. Chris was making little patterns over his arms with the water, occasionally daring to look over at one or both of us. Connor was moving his legs in circular motions underneath the water, watching the ripples and little waves make funny designs in the water.

Tyler was the only one who dared to speak up after a while.

"Well, we do live on a desert planet after all" Tyler said, laughing a little to himself as he removed his glasses. "None of us ever had enough water around us to properly learn"

"What about at Hollow point?" I asked, remembering the first time I had seen their little motel. I had kicked a post into their lake after all. "You guys had a giant lake there"

"Yeah, a giant lake that had no shallow bits" Chris said sarcastically, shaking his head at the idea. "Nine guys that didn't know how to swim, and no people to teach us how"

Fair point. They would either drown in the lake, or get caught by some random passing bandit group that saw them flounder in the water.

"That's fair enough" I admitted, seeing some of them smile softly in gratitude. "How about we have a swimming lesson right now?"

"Right now? Here?" Dan asked, looking between the lake and us two.

"Yeah! Sounds like an awesome idea!" Jade said excitedly, bouncing up and down in the water like a giddy child. "I used to be a expert in swimming back in my hometown! Plus, it will be my way of making it up to you guys for saving me!"

"Sounds like a good idea to me" Tyler said, then looking over and slowly counting the guys. "But there's seven of us"

"That's fine! I can take four people and teach them!" Jade said, tugging on Troye, Connor and Tyler's arms. "Who else wants to come along and learn from me?"

"Eh, it's probably best if I come and learn from ye as well" Jack said, moving closer to her as she started to retreat into the water. "I've got to learn someday 'ow to do it"

"Awesome! So! Let's start with-

I forget all the things she listed about swimming, her enthusiasm reminding me of Jack's. That's probably why he wanted to go and learn to swim with her, I think.

I turned my head back over to the three boys remaining in my little swim group. Mark, Dan and Chris seemed pleasantly happy with the idea of me teaching them.

"I'll be frank with the three of you, I have never taught anyone before" I said, shrugging my shoulders. "I think we should start with getting you guys comfortable with having water up to your chest"

"Okay"

"Alright"

"Lead the way"

I held out my hands to the three of them for them to hold onto. My plan was for them to follow me as I would slowly back into the water.

I only realised my problem when Mark took my left hand, while Dan and Chris reached for the right hand and paused when they realised they couldn't both hold onto my hand. Not without also holding a part of the others hand or having a slippery grip.

"One of you can hold onto my elbow" I said, seeing Chris reach for the elbow the moment I offered it to him. He hooked his hand around my right arm, holding tight onto the joint with his own right hand. Dan seemed grateful for the ability to hold onto my hand, slipping his left hand into my right.

I took one step backwards, to see if they would follow me naturally by themselves. Chris was the only one who did so, Dan and Mark having their legs remain in the same spot. The both of them looked a little bit silly, leaning forward while still trying to remain in place.

"I need you guys to come forward if we are going to get anywhere" I said, laughing a little to try and calm their nerves. "Just take baby steps"

I gave them some time, but Dan and Mark eventually put a foot forward to match mine. I gave them a nod, taking another step.

This time, they also followed with a step of their own. Not just Chris.

One step became two, two became three. And so on, and so on.

Once we started to reach hip height for the three of them, did I feel a increase of pressure from all three of their grips. Chris moved himself so that he could wrap both of his arms around my elbow, holding it close to his chest. Dan started to grip onto his own left arm with his right hand, squeezing my hand tightly between his fingers. Mark had moved his left hand to envelop mine completely between both his hands, his eyes lingering in mine with uncertainty.

"Could-Could we stop here for a moment? Just to get our bearings?" Mark asks, looking around at the water that lapped at his hips.

"Of course, we can take our time"

The three of them let out a short relieved sigh, relishing in the momentary stop. Mark's chest was heaving, and my mind wandered as I looked over his bare chest.

My mind went straight back to that night back at the motel, that night when Mark had lost control of his heat. His chest was still lined with numerous scars, but that small patch of skin above his belly button was still beautiful and free of marks.

But that comment he had made yesterday, the one he had thought. He probably thought he hadn't conveyed it to the rest of us, but he had. It made me wonder for a brief moment.

It was almost like he hadn't forgotten.

Dan had immediately told him off, which I was grateful for. He was a sweetheart once he truly trusted you.

I looked over at Dan, who was trying to gently rub my fingers in between his. Perhaps as a way of apologising for squeezing my fingers so tightly earlier. His hair had started to lose its shine, as well as becoming far more curly in the recent days. I ended up staring for quite a while apparently, Dan's eyebrow raising in question.

"I didn't know you had curly hair naturally" I answered his unspoken question, with both Chris and Mark looking to see what I was talking about. "I actually think it looks quite nice like this"

"You don't have to lie about it" Dan said, laughing softly (if a bit sarcastically) to himself. "I look like an unkempt Skag who tumbled into a thorn bush" (That's the Pandoran way of saying Hobbit hair)

"I don't do white lies" I said plainly, shaking my head at the mere notion. "If it looked horrible to me, I would have said so"

Dan looked down to the water, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink. They quickly returned to normal, him fiddling with his curly hair.

"You really think so?..." Dan asked softly, to which Chris snickered softly to himself. "What?"

"Dude, she already said she liked it" Chris said, his joking tone clashing heavily with him clinging onto me for dear life. If I was in a joking mood myself, I would tug my arm free from his grip. But that would leave Dan in the lurch too, so let's not do that. "What more do you want to hear from her?"

"I just... I have never heard someone tell me that they liked my hair like this..." Dan said softly to himself.

"Dude, relax" Chris said, releasing one of his arms for a brief second to give Dan a light ruffle in his curly hair. "I'm just yanking your chain"

The two of them started to joke about with each other, Mark simply rolling his eyes with a slight grin on his face.

My eyes drifted over to the four of my boys that Jade had taken on. It looked to me as if she had gotten them to sit on their knees and waddle forward in the water like that first. She was now trying to get Tyler comfortable with the idea of floating on his back in the shallows.

I probably should have started with that, now that I think about it.

Ugh, if all of my boys can't swim, then I really should hold an entire class for-

Wait a moment. All of my boys?

"Mark?"

"Hm?"

"You mentioned that you guys never learnt how to swim"

"Yes, that's correct"

"Does that include Phil and PJ by any chance?"

"Yes it does, why?"

Oh no.


	37. (37) Water under the bridge

Jade's P.O.V.: (If you guys feel up to it, I have a quiz to test people's knowledge on this story! Feel free to give it a go! "Show me your smile" knowledge test! )

"Alright, nice! You seem to be getting it! Um...what was your name again?"

"Connor"

"Oh, okay! Nice work Connor!"

Tyler laughed at my mishap with his friends name, before accidentally rolling over and spluttering in the shallows where we drifted. I quickly grabbed him before he could get anything more up his nose, and he coughed a little harshly as he clung onto my shoulders.

"You alright there Tyler?" Troye asked, shivering slightly. He didn't dare wade closer to check up personally on his friend, instead choosing to stay in his knelt position a couple of meters away.

"Yep, just got a bit of a noseful" Tyler said, snorting his nose loudly a moment later to clear the water from it. "Does someone else want a turn?"

"Not really, after seeing that example of things going wrong" Jack said, sighing a little. "But a guy's gotta learn 'ow to swim someday"

I let go of Tyler, letting the two boys swap in their roles. Jack, my new student, smiled a little apprehensively at me.

"So... does this water affect the colour of me 'air?" Jack asked, laughing a little bit awkwardly. "Cause a lot o' ladies 'ave mentioned that they like it"

"I can see why" I laughed, which earned a small bashful smile on his face. "I think it really suits your personality"

"Are you saying that because I'm Irish?" Jack joked with me, and his laugh felt way more natural now.

"No, I'm saying that because I think green is a happy colour" I said honestly, standing up to longer feel dwarfed by the man. He was around my height when I stood fully up, but you can only take one person so seriously when you are stuck looking up at their chest before their head. "And you seem like a happy person"

"Heh, thanks" Jack said, showing a small toothy grin to me. He looks good when he smiles with his teeth. "Ye seem like a pretty positive person yerself"

"A pretty and positive person?" I giggled, finding myself blushing despite the fact I was the one making the joke. "Or a pretty positive person?"

Oh dear, what was I doing?! I had been around this group for about a day, and I already was finding myself flirting with a guy that I had never met before.

It doesn't matter how cute the guy is! I mean, I should at least learn more about him first!

Luckily for me, he couldn't tell the internal argument with myself. Instead, he was too busy with laughing at the joke I had made. I guess that's a success?

"A pretty AND positive person" Jack cheekily said to me, a corner of his mouth twisting into a flirty grin. "I'm a simple man, I give credit where it's due"

I found myself giggling uncontrollably, playing with my bikini to keep myself occupied.

He found me pretty! Him! OH MY GOD!

"Heh, at this rate we might as well call you Giggles instead of Jade!"

"That sounds fair to me! I mean, I called Kyanna K-bun" I admitted honestly, loving the idea of having a nickname that he made up.

"Can you guys see where he is? I think Phil will be fine with my old pals"

I found myself brought out of my little stupor, the strong and familiar voice of Ally bringing me back into reality. Her voice was a notch higher than it usually has been, her eyes trying to scan something our way.

Oh no, was she looking at us? Did I do something to upset her?

I don't want to be rude, but I had heard so many things about Alpha people being very possessive of their pack. I guess being a female would not change how that would be.

This idea was further cemented into my mind when Jack suddenly lost his flirty grin and was looking straight at Ally with a fear filled, and shocked look.

Did... Did those two have something?...

No, surely not, right? Jack doesn't strike me as the kind of person who would cheat on his significant other... Then again, I did only know him for a day...

I looked over at Ally, trying to discover the secrets that were hidden in her eyes. I mean, I was always bad at that in the past, but it couldn't hurt to try!

I was right though, I couldn't understand anything in her eyes. What I did understand, however, was the fact she was actually trying to look around Jack, not at him.

Jack seemed to realise this as well, turning his head to look in the direction. I followed the general direction of their collective gazes, seeing them all lead to the rock outcrop that held K-bun with her friends.

Didn't PJ head that way earlier?

"HEY! PJ!"

I got the living daylights scared out of me when Ally let out the loudest voice I had ever heard in a long time. She shouted over to the distant figures clambering all over the rocks, but no response came. They didn't even seem to even flinch at her loud call.

Well, I know that I did react to that call. Way more than flinch in fact.

The lack of reaction from anyone over there sparked Ally and her three closest guys into action. Ally started to storm her way of the water, the three guys she was teaching wading their way out at a slower pace.

"What? What happened?!" Troye asked the four of them, but they all seemed to be in too much of a hurry to answer straight away.

Ally was the first one out of the water, dashing across the sandy shores. The three guys she was teaching all followed suit a moment later, once they were truly out of the water.

But it was obvious to me that the three boys were severely outclassed in terms of running power. The one that I think was called Mark seemed to be the one struggling the most out of the group, his early heat and suppressants making him lag a step or two behind his two other friends. The one called Chris seemed to be sort of middle of the road, his late exit from his heat also wreaking havoc on his system. Dan, the final one, despite having nothing to hold him back, was heaving loudly after a couple of seconds of sprinting after Ally. He must be really unfit. An unfit Omega, the worst combination.

For every two steps they took, they managed to get a meter further in their destination. Ally, on the other hand, would manage to get four meters out of her two steps.

She looked a little bit silly on one hand, her thunderous steps flinging sand in little dust clouds behind her as she charged. On the other hand, she kind of scared me with how much distance she could cross in such a short amount of time.

Note to self, don't piss off an Alpha unless you are a long way away. Or have cookies to calm them down with.

Speaking of cookies, I could really go for some right now.

Kyanna's P.O.V.:

"Hey! Be careful!"

"Hm?"

I wobbled a little as I found myself being harshly tugged back by someone. I opened my eyes, realising I had nearly fallen asleep at the edge of the cliff. I would have tumbled off if I hadn't been stopped by someone.

Speaking of that someone, I couldn't really recognise who's arm it was that was wrapped around my stomach.

"Are you alright now?"

Ah, now I recognised that voice. It was the same one who assured me it was fine to fall asleep yesterday.

"Ah, did you decide to follow us PJ?" I asked, trying to turn my head to look at him. It was slightly difficult, but I managed to see half his face. His eyes seemed full of worry, still not comfortable with letting go of me. "I guess I was right that I was going to fall asleep at this stupid time"

"Yeah, I had a feeling you were going to" PJ said, releasing his hold on me now that we were talking and a distance away from the edge. It felt kind of weird to have him hold so tightly and then release me so readily. "That was one of the main reasons why I asked if I could come over here"

The main reason he came over here was because he was worried about me? How sweet of him.

I don't think I have ever had anyone keep watch over me for longer than an hour without them becoming bored. But he had also watched over me for four hours yesterday.

PJ is a extremely kind and considerate man. I'm glad.

"So what is your group actually discussing?" PJ asked, taking my attention away from his face. "They seem to be having a bit of a heated discussion"

It was as he said, Barry and Ross seemed to be discussing something with Danny over at one corner of our giant rock. Their voices would sometimes reach a high note, their voices loud and annoyed at various intervals.

"Beats me" I commented, shrugging my shoulders at the idea. "I have never truly gotten myself involved in that sort of thing, I always let them handle things"

"I try to involve myself in my pack's plans and stuff, but I can definitely understand how letting the main three people handle things would be easier" PJ laughed, looking over to his distant members in the lake a little while away. "Ally, Mark and Jack are probably the three people in our group that take charge the most"

"I know what you mean" I said, laughing softly along with him before yawning into the back of my hand. "Our group probably has Arin and Suzy who lead the charge, with Barry taking over if neither of them can take charge"

"Well, I guess that makes sense" PJ said, looking over to Barry as I had said that. "Both Arin and Suzy seemed to know what they were doing"

"It's almost like they were born with their ability to lead people"

"No kidding"

"Hah... Yeah..."

"Alright, I'm going to head over there to check things out" PJ commented to me, gently touching my shoulder. Why did my body warm up at the points where he contacted me? "Try to stick with someone who will help you out if you fall asleep"

"Yeah, sure..."

Eh, I'm sure it'll be fine.

PJ's P.O.V.:

I still felt uneasy leaving her to her own devices, but I didn't feel like I had much choice in the matter. I had to find out if that discussion that those guys were having had something to do with my pack.

It would be the biggest insult if we got taken advantage of because we let our guard down. Getting kidnapped twice in the period of one week was insulting enough.

The least I could do, after getting kidnapped twice (And not helping the escape effort both times), was to make Ally more at ease with our new added members. I sure hope me investigating them doesn't make things worse.

My eyes darted over to Ninja Brian, wondering what he possibly was doing. He was the person I found the most dangerous, him being able to appear and disappear without so much as a blink.

Danny might be an Alpha, but you would at least get some warning when he would attack you. Not to mention Ally seemed to have some sort of understanding of the man, him seemingly taking her words and actions into account rather than the rest of us.

Ninja Brian could simply slash your throat and be gone in mere seconds. And from what I knew, he didn't care at all about what Ally said on the situation.

I inhaled sharply, the thought of my neck being the target making me freeze in my movements momentarily. I brought my hands over my neck in some sort of mock defense, looking at the bored Ninja.

He seemed to just be chucking rocks into the lake. He seemed to get irritated by the loud arguing from Danny and Brian nearby, and he would sometimes fling a stone over to his Alpha friend. Danny didn't seem to appreciate it in the slightest.

"Knock it off Brian!" Danny shouted at his friend, completely ignoring the daggers being stared at him by the robed man. "If you really don't like our conversation, then go and hang out with Ally instead! Heck! You seem to enjoy hanging around her rather than me anyway!"

What? Since when did Ninja Brian prefer Ally to Danny?

Did it happen during the escape attempt at the last bandit raid? Back at the pyramid when the three of them went in?

Or was it simply because we always forced Ally to stay on the roof? She would have spent hours with those two on the roof, even long before those old workmates of hers decided to show up.

If I had a say, I would never have left her alone with those two. They rub me the wrong way with how callous they can be. But we had no choice at the time, all of us Beta couldn't handle taking more suppressants. And it would have been cruel to make her take one just so she could stay with us in the truck.

Ninja Brian was glaring intensely at Danny. It often seemed like gibberish to us, but Danny always seemed to be able to make some sort of sentence out of his anger.

Now that I think about it, it would make sense if the both of them were a pack. Communicating words and thoughts to each other and being able to understand each other without having to speak.

But then why would Danny speak normally to him instead of thinking it? Maybe it was to poke fun at him?

"I don't" Danny seethed, responding to Ninja Brian's unspoken statement. It seemed obvious to me that Ninja Brian had stated that he did something distasteful, and Danny seemed adamant to tell him otherwise. "If either of the two of us prefer her to each other, it would be you instead of me"

Oh. From that statement, the most likely thing that he said was something akin to what Danny had said to Ninja Brian. Ninja Brian had claimed that Danny also preferred her to each other. Did these two have a good relationship with Ally? Or did they simply hate each other that much to prefer literally anybody else.

Ninja Brian raised an eyebrow, not letting up on his angry look. It seemed as if he was asking Danny as though he believed him to be stupid. He was saying something else, but I couldn't tell what it was.

"You-You saw?! Why were you-

He paused in his following tirade against his friend, suddenly becoming aware of my presence.

By this point, everyone had turned their heads over to the disagreement between both friends. Jon and Ross had stopped their little investigation into the rock face, Barry had long since been looking at Danny once his attention was taken away from their discussion and Kyanna was tiredly looking over with an annoyed expression. Like she was more annoyed from the loud voices than the idea of an argument happening not far away.

Despite all the faces turned to him, he still seemed fixed on the fact that I was here. He seemed a little taken aback, more from surprise than anger at first.

The look in his eyes quickly turned to anger however, seemingly trying to think of some kind of insult towards me.

"Did Ally send one of her dogs to check up on us?" Danny asked, a frown spreading across his face. "Or are you simply another ice queen like that Dan friend of yours?"

"Dan isn't an ice queen" I responded calmly, knowing how bad it would be if I started a fight with him. "We've had bad experiences in the past, and that makes him wary-

"Oh yeah?! If that's so, then why aren't all of you like him?!" Danny growled, a primal growl erupting from his lips.

"Because people are different" I said, clenching my fist closed. I didn't want to have to fight him, but Ally had always mentioned that my legs were stronger than my arms. If he even tried to attack me, I would kick him straight in the face. "Just because you happen to think that everyone should act like you, doesn't mean-

"PJ!"

Both me and Danny were brought out of our fighting mode, Danny looking behind me at the person who had no doubt yelled our way. I immediately knew who it had to be, the female strong voice belonging to only one person here.

Ally had yelled that at me. Did she feel something going wrong over here?

I tried to twist my head back to look at Ally, to possibly see if she was making her way over here or if she simply was double checking. I changed my mind the moment I saw Danny's eyes snap back to me.

Let's face it, Ally is a paranoid person. She was more likely to come and check up on me if I didn't react, rather than if I decided to wave at her frantically.

All my thoughts about ways to distract him, all the ideas of things I should have done if I happened to be killed by this man.

In the end, none of them really mattered once Ninja Brian gave Danny a punch to the head.

He didn't go unconscious like the time Arin had punched him, instead just complained loudly as he held his head. He had jumped immediately into the arguing tone with his friend, but I had the feeling he wouldn't lose his temper so easily with him as he had with me.

Everyone seemed really relieved with the sudden change in tone, all of them letting out loud sighs of relief.

Except for Kyanna for some weird reason. She didn't seem to be doing anything beyond looking over the edge of the cliff. She seemed to be leaning way too far over the cliff, trying to look at something far down.

Geez! What is she doing?! If she wasn't careful, she was going to fall in at this rate.

Imagine my horror. Imagine it, as I noticed something very wrong as I looked at her face.

Her eyes were closed.

"KYANNA!" I shouted, scaring a good amount of people with my voice. I don't even know what made me move so fast to her, my body instinctively running to catch her falling body.

I managed to hook my right arm around her stomach again, her swinging precariously in my grip for a second or two. I let out a relieved sigh, until I could feel the rocks under me start to slide. Our combined weight was too much for them.

Once again, I don't know what compelled me to throw her to safety. I probably should have gotten to safety to myself, seeing as I couldn't swim. And the fact she probably would wake up the moment she hit the water.

Despite all those things going through my head, I had decided to move my other arm around her, swinging her with my full weight up and away from the edge.

"PJ!" Ally cried, her seeing the whole event happen not too far away. She seemed to be charging at me with all her speed, one of her arms outstretched for me to grab.

I felt my balance go, the final rock that I had used for balance suddenly disappearing from beneath my feet. I threw my right hand out as far as I could, both of our arms reaching out for the other.

I don't know why I didn't just try and grab for the edge of the cliff instead. Once again, instinct compelled me to do a certain thing. My instinct was telling to trust her and take her hand.

Our hands probably would have managed to reach each other.

If it wasn't for Danny, who suddenly stopped her in her tracks, his arms wrapped around her waist.

Our hands missed each other.


	38. (38) Why worry

Arin's P.O.V.: (I promise! The OC's are coming!)

"It's a shame that we have no food left in our stash" I sighed, palming the empty sack nearby. "Nothing feels nicer than a roll in the hay with some chocolate after wards"

Suzy giggled against my chest, rubbing my chest affectionately. She shook her head softly at my notion of missing food.

"Kyanna probably ate them all" She mentioned, looking over at the sack with a sly smile on her face. "You should be grateful to her, she's helping you lose weight"

"How rude! I don't need to lose weight!" I huffed, jokingly tickling Suzy on her neck.

She laughed a little from both the antics and the tickling, before shoving away my hands. She lost the sly smirk, which evolved into a somewhat more serious expression.

Ugh, great. Are we going to have one our long discussions after sex again? Why does she always do it afterwards?

"Arin, we need to have a talk" Suzy said, and I unconsciously let out a mixture between a groan and a sigh. I could tell I screwed up the moment a I saw her frown at me. "Look, I know you don't like to have these talks, but they have to happen"

"But why do we always do it after sex?" I complained, hoping to stall for time and put off the talk.

"Because you always would complain when I did it before sex in the past" She explained, sitting up and searching around her for her bra. "And you are always more relaxed afterwards, which means you think more clearly"

I sighed loudly once more at the prospect regardless of her explanation, and she responded in her own way. By chucking my boxers in my face. Ugh, disgusting.

"Hey, can I wear one of your swimsuits under my pants instead of these?"

"No"

"Ugh"

Why use me complaining as an excuse in the first place? I mean, I'm going to complain about it regardless.

Suzy put her shorts on, turning to me in her half dressed state. I guess the talk we were going to have ruined the possibility of another go.

"Alright, we'll have our talk" I said, sighing and giving up on stalling for time.

"Good" Suzy said simply, smiling proudly at me once I was on board. She didn't make any move to look for her shirt, but hey, I wasn't complaining.

"But I just want to mention before we start" I said, holding a hand out to halt her before she started talking. Her smile faltered for a moment, looking at me with a bit of confusion. "If this is about what I did to Danny yesterday, I really am sorry for doing that"

"No, I wasn't really planning on talking about that" Suzy said, shaking her head. Her earrings seemed to sway along with her head, and it made me laugh at how silly it sometimes looked. "More about our plans about tagging along with these people"

"Oh, just that?" I asked, very relieved that she wasn't mad about yesterday. "Well, I was planning on leaving the moment we have our own transport"

"You don't trust them?" Suzy asked, looking very confused. "I mean, they seem to be nice people to me"

"It's not that I don't trust them" I sighed, lying on my back and staring at the roof of the truck. "I just don't want to have to get saved by Brian again"

"And owe him a favour?"

"Yeah" I said, huffing slightly. "So that's why we are getting out of dodge quickly"

She sighed loudly, looking slightly upset at the prospect of leaving the group. I doubted it was because she really wanted to owe Ninja Brian a favour.

I raised an eyebrow at her, in a questioning way as to ask what was wrong.

"Surely you don't like owing that dude a favour?"

"No, I agree with that completely" Suzy said, shaking her head at the idea. "I just find it kind of sad for her"

"What? Ally?" I asked, not getting what she was getting at.

"No, Kyanna" Suzy said, nodding her head at a bare patch of the wall of the truck. "She was getting along so well with the guy that was sitting over there"

"What do you mean?" I asked, pulling a face at the idea of Kyanna acquiring a friend that she didn't annoy with her sleep prone body. She never seemed to make friends that easily in the past. "They were chatting?"

"No, she was sleeping against his shoulder" Suzy laughed, remembering whatever picture she had in her head. "She seemed so peaceful and it occurred to me that she never had fallen asleep like that with any of us"

"So what are you saying, that we lose our chief mechanic?" I said, saying it as though it was the most ridiculous idea I had ever heard before in my life. "You and me both know that she is the only one who can fix the darn engines in this desolate wasteland"

"I was more suggesting that we maybe take that guy she likes with us" Suzy said, tapping her chin in thought. "From what I have heard, he is very athletic and good at climbing to hard to reach places"

"Do you think his pack leader will appreciate it?" I asked, a hint of sarcasm in my voice.

"I don't really know, but it can't hurt to-

Loud piercing static interrupted our conversation, the both of us looking up front to the drivers cabin. I raised an eyebrow at Suzy, to which she shrugged her shoulders.

I put my pants on, sighing loudly as I moved to the drivers cabin to investigate the noise.

I didn't really know what on earth could have made the noise, so when I swept my gaze across the entire cabin, I naturally found no obvious answer to my question in the slightest.

I mean, there was that old ham-fisted truckers radio that was in the middle of the dash. But from what I had seen, the knob to twist the frequency was broken. So it literally was impossible to-

"Hello? Is anybody in that truck down there?" Came a somewhat joking yet somewhat serious voice from the radio.

Well what the hell.

"Ignore it" Suzy said, immediately grabbing my hand to stop me from grabbing the radio. "We should not do anything if it's just the both of us here"

"Suzy, you heard what he said" I commented calmly to her, pointing to the radio all the meanwhile. "That person seems to already know that there is a truck here for some reason"

"All the more reason to leave it alone" Suzy explained, not letting go of my hand. "We should wait for the others to get back first before we start anything-

"Hey now, it's rude to ignore people"

The person on the other side of the radio seemed to be losing their patience, not appreciating the silence that we were leaving him with. At least, I think it was rude.

"Just don't answer it" Suzy said, shaking her head at me gravely. "He's probably just checking to see if someone is here"

"Yeah, and they'll probably try to take the truck if we don't let them know someone is in here" I tried to argue, seeing the determined look in my wife's eyes. I knew she could be stubborn at times, but now was really not the time for it.

"Exactly, so it would be wise to make a trap for when they-

"I know the both of you are in there"

The both of us froze, looking out of the windows to try and spot anyone looking our way. We couldn't see anyone, so that either meant that this person had been stalking us for a while or he was a psychic.

Or really, really good at bluffing.

But I didn't believe he could bluff the amount of people that were hiding in a truck. Surely not, right?

"Well, seeing as the both of you don't really seem to care about your own lives, surely you guys don't mind getting blown to smithereens"

I immediately swiped the radio extension from the case it was held in, pushing the button on it and speaking before Suzy could stop me.

"We're here! We're here" I said, trying my best to ignore the confused look in Suzy's eyes. "There's no need to start throwing bombs"

"Hah! How sweet" The person sarcastically laughed, finding my tone funny for some reason or another. "You think I'm going to throw bombs at you from orbit"

"F-From orbit?! How are you able to tell that we-

"Our base has got high tech buddy boy" The person joked, but you could hear the malicious intent behind it. "We could carpet bomb the entire five mile area that you and your pals are staying at in a matter of five seconds"

"Why did you not just do that straight away?" I asked, my mind full of confusion and fear. Just who on earth was this guy?! "What do you want?"

"Good question buddy boy, exactly the one I was hoping to hear from you" He said, and I swallowed some saliva. Both out of fear and out of relief for having a chance to get out of this problem. "I want a particular person out of your group to come and talk to me"

Lissa's P.O.V.: (I know, I know. I'm being super cruel by not having PJ's predicament explained. But don't worry, he'll be all fine :D)

"What do you call a cat you order from Mcdonalds?"

"Umm..."

"A Mcfluffin!"

Dear lord, even his puns were cute.

It hadn't surprised me that I was the first one to wake up in the morning, my body never really liking to sleep once the sun was up. Kyanna was awake in her own little corner across the way, but I had the feeling from her sleep deprived eyes that she hadn't managed to fall asleep at all.

Ally had woken up soon after me, and I took the opportunity to ask about her group and herself. They had been the first group of people that didn't seem like bandits, and they also seemed to get along like a house on fire.

Bad analogy, I know. But it was better than anything else I could come up with at the time.

Ally seemed perfectly content with spilling little bits of their personality to me while she cleaned some gigantic gun in her lap. I hadn't meant to be rude at the time, but I had sort of not properly listened to all she had said about all of her group.

I was only fully listening to two parts. Dan and Phil's.

Why those two, you ask? Well first of all, Phil was still the only one who had really been polite to me so far, the rest all not being able to hide their nervous faces around me.

I mean, I don't blame them at all. From what I had heard from Ally, they had gotten kidnapped twice in the same week. They can be wary of me all they like. I probably would be as well in their shoes.

In the end, she had described Phil as a walking talking bundle of joy. And how often she had thought to herself about how much more adorable he was than herself. So far, I had to agree completely.

And Dan's part? Well, that one was interesting.

Everyone else she had given short little bits of description of how they were, along with possibly one or two particular instances that endeared them to her. And possibly how she felt about them now in contrast to first meeting them if they were lucky.

But Dan. Dan had so much more in her mind to say.

First of all, she felt she had to defend his occasionally spiky attitude. She felt that people immediately would not forgive him for the way he would treat them at first.

Out of curiosity, I had asked her if Dan had reacted to her the first time she had shown up. She had laughed, smiling fondly at the memory. He had, a lot more than how he reacts now.

Second of all, she talked about how his eyes would sparkle with mischief around people he trusted. He apparently loved to rib people, and Ally was no exception to the ribbing.

And finally, she mentioned about how he would care for people in vast amounts once you had gotten past the icy exterior. I agreed with her, seeing an example of it when I had helped them out of the jail cell back at the bandit base. His bedside care for PJ and Chris in that state was a big contrast to later when he would shout at me for not holding PJ properly.

"So, in short" I had asked her at the time. "He's a tsundere?"

"PFF! Haha!" She had laughed at the time, a big and bright smile on her face. She lowered her volume once she noticed one of her boys stir, her gently rubbing their back in a soothing motion. Now that I think about it, that person had been Dan, hadn't it? "Yes, I suppose you could call him that"

"You into Tsundere's?"

"Not Tsundere's per se" She laughed, shaking her head at the idea of liking all people like that. "But I'm into Dan"

Those words, for some reason had resonated louder. Louder than any other sweet talking about the other boys.

Maybe it was the simple fact that she hadn't said it for anyone else. She never admitted being into any of the others.

"Have you got one?" Phil asked, bringing my thoughts back to him. I found myself staring into his eyes, remembering about how he had said how much Ally had meant to him yesterday.

I felt sorry for him. If this morning was any clue, then poor Phil had already lost in the race for her love. I wonder if he knew about that...

"Umm... OH! What do you call a large computer that you get from Mcdonalds?"

"A big mac?" Phil asked, laughing both at the joke and my mock horrified look I plastered onto my face.

"Darn! You bested my brilliance!" I said, clicking my fingers the way an old villain might do. He simply laughed louder, his eyes crinkling at the sides. Now that I notice it, he had a lot of laugh lines around his eyes. I can appreciate a guy who laughs a lot in his lifetime. "Wait! I have another one! What do gangsters order from Mcdonalds?"

"Uhh... I actually have no idea"

"Mcthuggets"

"Oh my god!" Phil said, shaking his head at the joke. He gently shook my shoulder as he laughed, and I felt my smile widen on my face. If I smiled any wider, I swear I would break my face or something like that.

I enjoyed his company so much, even if all of our interactions were either me being awkward or the both of us simply exchanging puns until we ran out. Who knows, it would probably evolve into natural conversation at some point in the future.

My smile wiped off my face. That day would never come, would it? I had agreed to be dropped off at the next town.

What was I even planning to do when I did get dropped off? I can't go back to my family, and I don't have any actual natural talent that anyone in society would want. Sneaking without making a sound doesn't really do much for anyone except perhaps thieves.

But it would sound so stupid to ask to stay with the people I had helped kidnap in the first place.

But then again, Phil had already forgiven me. Heck, he had made that abundantly clear yesterday in the back of the truck.

And I doubt Ally would have told me so much about her group if she hated my guts. She probably wouldn't have even let me sleep near her group if she felt that way.

Surely it wouldn't hurt if I stayed along?

"So, umm... about when I am leaving this group-

"This might sound weird to you" Phil said, stopping me long before I could mention anything about leaving or staying. "But do you mind staying with us?"

"I-What?! How come?!" I asked, my confusion coming out in vast spades. I mean, I was going to ask the same thing, but that didn't mean I was expecting him to ask me to stay instead of the other way around.

"Well, for starters, you are a lovely person to have around" Phil stated, starting to count on each individual finger the reasons why. "And I think having you around the group would be good for morale"

"I thought people hated my puns?" I asked, thinking back on Mark and Danny's reactions to my puns at the time. Ally and Phil had been the only two really burst into laughter at them.

"They just don't know how to handle them when things are going on at the time" Phil said, shrugging his shoulders. "And they need a little time to get used to you before they will laugh naturally at things you say"

"Dude, none of your friends will trust me" I said, laughing at the idea of Dan or Jack ever laughing at my jokes. "And why would it even be good for Ally's morale?"

"Frankly, it's a bit weird for her to just be surrounded by guys all the time" Phil mumbled, some words being spoken softer then others. "Despite Tyler and Connor being feminine, they simply don't have the same things and topics that girls will have"

"No offense dude, but Ally is far from feminine" I said, rolling my eyes good naturedly. What am I even doing?! I was going to ask to stay with these guys, and now that he is offering it I am coming up with a million excuses?! "The most we could joke about is maybe period jokes"

"Is this all boiling down to a no?" Phil asked me, looking at me with slightly sad eyes. He seemed upset with the idea of me leaving, and it felt like one of those looks that puppies give you when they are sad.

"I just-I just don't understand some of reasons for staying" I tried to say, my word being an entire jumble from start to finish. My explanation didn't change his upset look, and I found myself looking anywhere else other than his face. "I would love nothing more than to stay, but I don't think she'll let me stay.."

His attitude instantly perked up with the final comment from me, his grin and demeanor returning in the blink of an eye. I was starting to think that he could flip from one to the other in mere moments.

"Just let me ask her!" Phil said excitedly, and he smiled wider when I finally found my nerve to look him in the eyes. He must have seen the hopeful look in my own dark eyes. "There's no way she'll be able to say no if I word it the right way!"

Wow. Despite his puppy eyes and his adorable attitude, there would be the occasional time where he would surprise you with the little devil in him.

Sounds just like me. Nice!

"So anyway, remind me again why we are coming this way again?" I asked, giving a puzzled look to the three mysterious men that seemed to be discussing something in the distance. I had remembered Phil mentioning to Ally that he had wanted to talk to these three, to get them to trust him more. But that doesn't work with the snap of his fingers you know.

"Well, Ally was upset at the fact that there is a clear divide between us and them" Phil said, pointing at the three men when the word 'them' was sounded out. "So I figured making friends with them should-

"PJ!"

The both of us stopped dead in our tracks the moment we heard that giant shout, both of us looking in that direction from where it came from. I had sounded like Ally.

"Was-Was that Ally?!" I asked, trying to peer around the rocks that blocked our view back to the group. I naturally couldn't see shit, but that didn't seem to stop me from trying to still peer through the cracks.

Phil took in a deep breath, almost like he was going to answer me or shout over to the main group. He was drowned out by the heavy thumping sounds that got steadily louder, them belonging to the two Alpha men that we had been planning to meet up in the first place. Their third comrade was also running his way over to us, but at a much slower pace than them. He complained loudly to the both of them, saying that he couldn't match their pace.

It kind of scared me a little, them clearing a good twenty metres in mere seconds. Well, the two Alpha guys did clear it in about seven seconds. The Beta had to take his time and only managed to show up to us in about sixteen seconds. By the time their friend showed up, the other two were already jumping into a flurry of questions.

"What happened?! I heard Ally yell something!" Asked one of them hurriedly, him being darker skinned than the other two. I think when Ally introduced him, she had called him Bryan?

"Did the both of you come over here to grab us?!" Asked the other Alpha, his name being Jfred?

"That's not possible" Said the final man of the trio, who's name escapes me. I'm just gonna call him Matt. "They were walking on their way here, they couldn't have run here in the short amount of time between her shouting and us hearing her"

Dude what. I didn't understand a word of that.

"Never mind, she sounds like she needs our help" Bryan said, moving hurriedly past the both of us. He looked back for a brief second, checking to see if we followed him. But after that, he didn't look back at us.

PJ's P.O.V.: ("FINALLY!" I hear you all yell XD)

A deafening thud, mixed with garbled water preventing me from hearing things correctly. That was the best I could really describe the noise of crashing into the lake below the cliff.

As I slowly descended into the water, I unconsciously reached down to my aching feet. I guess I should have thanked my lucky glasses that I had landed on my feet and not my back or head, but they ached as though someone had smacked them with a sledgehammer.

It felt a little bit strange, almost as though my body didn't actually realise I had fallen into the water just yet. It only really kicked in, when I tried to breath in. Which failed spectacularly, of course.

I let out an entire mouthful of bubbles, the sudden shock of being in water scaring me enough to try and yell out underwater. I choked on the water, flailing for a moment while trying to hold my hands over my mouth in a vain attempt to save any further air.

The longer I stayed under, the more I spluttered and failed to breath. I didn't dare open my eyes, my panic already causing my breathing to be in utter pieces.

Just as I felt myself lose all hope, could I feel my feet contact something solid. Did I already reach the bottom of the lake?! Or was this just some random rock that had been dropped here from the cliff nearby?

Either way, I wasn't going to waste this chance. I might not be able to swim, but I definitely have strong legs from my years of gymnastics!

I fought the pain in my aching legs, pushing the both of them hard against the rock. It did the trick, launching myself up and out of the depths of the water. But ow my legs!

I had apparently pushed hard enough with that, that I could feel my head breaching the surface of the water a couple of seconds later.

My mind raced with the surge of air, coughing and spluttering in a wild fashion as I tried to gulp down entire lungfuls of air without trying to swallow the water that surrounded me. I tried to wipe the water from my eyes, to try and see what on earth was near me to possibly grab onto.

I could hear distinct arguing above me, the voices sounding slightly familiar.

"Let me go! I need to help him!"

"He's perfectly fine! He fell feet first into the water!"

"HE CAN'T SWIM YOU IDIOT!"

I could hear the two arguing voices, them clearly belonging both to Ally and Danny respectively. I could also hear a slapping noise ring out later, most likely from one of the two arguing party to the other. Probably Ally to Danny.

"Help!" I cried out, trying to tilt my head backwards to better shout up at the group above me. Sadly, tilting my head back cause the water to more easily get into my mouth, me coughing a spluttering even more than before. "Ach!Pth! Help me! Hel-

I could feel my body sinking into the water like before, my thrashing and kicking around only helping for a small moment before succumbing to the inevitable water.

I thrashed and reached for the surface of the water again, but I had no purchase for my feet to kick off from like I had before.

Surely I wouldn't have to wait for my legs to reach that rock from before, right?! I wasn't sure I could do that again! Not with the amount of water I swallowed from before!

Not to mention, I don't even know if I was likely to find that same rock again! What if I just slipped by it and ended up sinking to the bottom of the lake?!

I stopped trying to reach for the surface with my arms, instead covering my mouth and nose with my hands like before. If nothing else, it might stop myself from instantly expelling all the air in my lungs.

I just had to wait for Ally to come and get me! She probably was on her way right now, jumping off the cliff the moment she got Danny off her. I'd hear the giant splash into the water any second now.

Any second now, Ally would surely come and save me. I mean, she knew how to swim after all, right?

Silence. Just me, and all the noise of water pressing all around me.

There's no splashing.

She's coming to save me, right?

...

...

Right?...

A warm feeling developed in my chest, suddenly surprising me with the intensity of it's heat. What on Pandora?

Wait, no. Not a warm feeling 'in' my chest.

Someone had their arms around my chest. They were so warm in contrast to the cold water, that I felt my arm so straight to them.

As I tightened my grip on their arms, I could feel the warmth of their chest press against my back. A sudden surge of movement scared me, the both of us surging to the surface of the water with intense speed and grace. I could feel their legs move in smooth and calm movements behind me, moving us with such speed.

The moment we breached the surface, I once again found myself coughing and spluttering loudly in their grip. I gulped in loads of air, worried about possibly falling beneath the surface once again.

"Are you alright?" The soft and velvety voice asked me, surprising me with it's completely calm and panic free tones. What probably surprised me more than anything else, was the fact I didn't recognise this voice in the slightest.

It was a woman's voice, that I was sure of. Or maybe a really, really feminine voice that belonged to a male.

But it wasn't Ally's, that was for sure. It didn't hold the occasional deep notes in her speech, along with the fact that Ally's voice would raise several notches when she was afraid.

It also wasn't Lissa's voice, it missing the slightly nasally sound when she would speak. It also was too soft and too deep to be hers.

Kyanna often had a bored sound to her voice, always coming from her tired state. Even when she sounded awake, Kyanna had a deeper voice than this woman's.

And it was missing the ever present energy in Jade's voice. Not to mention Jade's voice was always a tad bit higher than anyone's voice, her sounding almost like a warbling bird when she would speak happily to us.

Heck, it wasn't even Suzy's voice. So...just who was this woman?

"I-I'm fine now" I said, finding myself gripping harder onto their arms, panic still fully set in my mind. At least this person seemed to know how to swim, and was helping me at this point in time. I panicked a little when I felt them start to move backwards, removing one of their arms to use that one to push herself in the water. "What are you doing?"

"I'm bringing you to shore" She said, each part of her voice relaxing me even more than the last. Why was I getting such a feeling of Deja vu with her voice? "Just relax, I've got you"

Dan's P.O.V.:

The three of us, that had been learning to swim alongside Ally, had long since stopped running behind her. We could see after a little while that we weren't going to catch up at all.

And so Mark had hurried back over to the rest of our split group, to explain the state of emergency that was going on.

And of course, we had seen PJ tumble off the cliff face mere moments after we could hear her yell again.

"Do you want me to swim out to him?!" Jade was asking us, worried about PJ's fate. "I mean, he looks like-

"You wouldn't be able to reach him before Ally would" Jack said, trying to fight his own instincts to jump in as well. "She's the closest to him right now"

"Yeah, but she seems to be having difficulty in jumping after him" Chris said, pointing out the two wrestling figures in the distance. "But who on earth would be trying to stop her from helping him?"

"Guys! What's going on?!" said Bryan in the distance, the three of Ally's coworkers running up to us with Phil and Lissa in tow. At least Phil was safe, thank Pandora for that.

"Ally went to go and help PJ on the rock face over there" I explained, pointing over to the distant location. After seeing the five of them look that way, I explained further. "PJ can't swim, and we just saw him fall off the cliff face"

"Matthias, how high do you think that ledge is from the water?" Jfred asked his brother, watching him intently as Matthias's face scrunched up in concentration.

"It's hard to tell from this distance" Matthias admitted honestly, shrugging his shoulders. "The best estimate I can give you is maybe five metres?"

"Did PJ land on his feet or back?" Lissa asked, moving herself to the front of the group to make sure she wasn't missed behind the tall and bulky men she had been running with. "The answer to that is very important"

"I wasn't watching close enough to tell" Connor admitted readily, looking sheepish for the lack of information.

"I was" Troye said simply, pulling his feet out of the freezing water back onto the sand. "He landed on his feet"

"Flat feet or pointed feet?" Lissa asked further, seemingly very knowledgeable on the subject. "And were his feet together?"

"His feet weren't together, I saw that much" Troye said, his forehead scrunching in concentration. "His legs were bent, and I assume he probably didn't think about pointing his toes"

"Oh no" Lissa said softly to herself, biting her bottom lip in worry. "He might have broken something in the fall"

"W-What?! What do you mean?!" Asked Tyler, his worry evident from the way he played with his hands and the high notes he was achieving with his voice.

"I had a friend who had springboard diving as a talent" Lissa said, trying her best to explain without sounding rude. "Anything from three metres and above feels like hitting concrete if you land wrong"

We all got distracted by the last split of our group, Ally running over to us over the sand and kicking it up in all directions. It looked kinda funny, if it wasn't for the fact that PJ was still in trouble.

"Ally?! Why didn't you jump in after PJ?!" Tyler asked, after running up to her. Ally tried to look over his shoulder before answering, but Tyler moved in the way before she could see anything.

"Some random girl had swum up to him while Danny had prevented me from helping him" Ally said, finally satisfying Tyler.

"What idiot doesn't know how to swim?!" Danny asked, seemingly more mad at being yelled at than being partly responsible for PJ's surprise swim. One of his cheeks was bright red, a very distinct hand print etched into his skin.

"We live on a desert planet you moron! How were we supposed to learn?!" Mark asked him angrily, looking like he wanted to deck Danny for even remotely causing this problem.

"QUIET!" Ally yelled, which made all people pause in their collective tirades. Jade seemed like she didn't know how to deal with the shouting, choosing to hide behind Jack. Lissa was doing the same, hiding behind Phil despite her enthusiasm to not be behind him before. "I don't know who that is, but I'm going to find out"


	39. (39) Video killed the radio star

Ally's P.O.V.: (Joy finally arrives, yahoo! Thanks to Joyful spirit for her OC!)

PJ spluttered slightly as he struggled to stand up, his legs failing him for a moment. The woman who had dragged him to shore caught him before he could land face first in the water again, holding him around the waist.

Mark, Tyler and Connor immediately ran to him, either hugging him in relief or supporting him so that he could stand on his own. I wanted nothing more than to run to him as well, to hug him and apologise for not being able to save him straight away.

But I had to make sure this woman was alright. Both in terms of whether she was dangerous and if she had hurt herself trying to save PJ.

The woman soon let go of him, allowing the three boys to lead him out of the water and bring him over to Troye. She stretched her shoulder muscles, perhaps due to not using them in a while.

Chris stood to one side of her, offering a hand to her in case she too felt weak. She waved him off with a wave of the hand, and he found himself more concerned with PJ after that moment.

She soon noticed my scrutinizing gaze, smiling somewhat wistfully at me.

"Hello" I greeted, not sure how to deal with the look from her. My greeting caused her to smile wider, showing her pearly white teeth in her smile.

"Hello to you as well" She returned the greeting, a calm and almost unafraid voice coming out from her lips.

Despite all the other gazes aimed her way, she didn't seem to really take any heed of them. She focused heavily on me, eventually wringing out one side of her black t-shirt that she wore.

I noticed a small intricate black bracelet around her left wrist, but I couldn't really see how that might be used as a weapon. Her pants were soaked through and through, but she didn't seem to really mind. If anything, she seemed to relish the cold feeling against her skin in the heat of the day.

Her hair stuck to her shirt, and she soon moved her arms to wring that out as well onto the sand. She seemed to be taking her time to dry herself, almost as though she didn't really believe me to be a threat.

 _"What's the plan?"_ Jack asked, moving himself to my right shoulder. I could see with a quick flick of the eyes that he held the gun from August, probably holding it close to the both of us in case we needed it.

Dan had also moved himself close to me, trying to subtly give me a hint by scratching softly around his right eye. He was letting me know as well that he could use his powers if I needed it. He moved his hand into mine, probably so that when he used his power I would still be able to move freely around.

That, or he wanted to feel secure. Or make me feel secure myself.

 _"I don't think either of those will be necessary"_ I told them both, gently rubbing Dan's fingers with my thumb and smiling at Jack. I could feel the both of them still have leagues of nervous energy, so I tried to calm them further. _"If I find it necessary, I will let the both of you know immediately"_

Dan and Jack nodded their heads at me, and I rolled my eyes at the both of them. They still haven't learned to keep their heads still after all this time.

"A pack, huh?" The woman asked, looking between the three of us. "Looks like you have gotten a cozy group set up"

"Not as cozy as I would like it at the moment" I said, feeling Dan's grip tighten on my hand. I kept trying to calm him down with little circles on his fingers, but I had the feeling that he couldn't calm down until everything was certain. "We still need to get things sorted out"

"It would seem so, with what happened just now" She said, her eyes disdainfully looking over to Danny. "That sort of thing shouldn't happen in a pack"

Danny scoffed, rolling his eyes at the stranger. Her frown set in further at his reaction, so she took her eyes off of him. Almost as though she didn't believe he was worth her time.

She focused her full attention on me, moving herself slowly but purposely in my direction.

Naturally, a lot of our entire group didn't really like that.

I could spy Matthias reaching into his leather armour, probably for his hidden pistol. If he still had the tiny thing after we ran away from our old workplace.

I raised my available right hand in a way to ask him to ease up, but he didn't seem like he was going to let up on his pistol until everything was clear. Matthias had always been like that.

Danny also seemed to reach for his pistol, and I sent a glare his way to stop him from doing something. Well, stop him from doing his second rash thing today. Danny returned the glare, as though to ask me if I was insane for wanting to trust this woman.

Well, I ended up trusting Lissa and Jade, didn't I? So what was the harm in seeing if this woman was alright?

Heck, she had even brought PJ in from the depths. Jade was just stuck near her car when we found her.

She stopped right in front of me, still not really paying attention to any of the others around her. It was a little strange to say the least. It was almost like a child, who believed that if you ignored something it would go away.

That, or she really believed in her own power.

"We are similar, you and I" She said, using a finger to point between the both of us.

"You're an Alpha?" I asked, looking at her with skepticism. She nodded her head, her smile still showing her pearly white teeth.

I didn't really believe her, not seeing enough of her strength to really prove herself to me. She swam pretty quick, but that could simply be from a swimming talent that she had if she were a Beta.

I sniffed the air, getting a multitude of smells that hung around in the air.

Naturally, Dan's smell was the most overpowering. Probably due to his proximity to me along with him being an Omega. Beetroot and chocolate smelled really nice.

Jack had snapped out of his heat this morning, so I could smell his biscuits and lettuce clearly.

Most of the Beta were still in their heat, perhaps coming out of it soon. Mark had his scent hidden, so he had a suppressant working against his Pine and Whiskey.

I could hardly smell any of our new friends near Danny, Danny being the only one I could smell clearly without interference.

Bryan and Jfred had their smells loud and energetic, like they always had been. They tried to keep them in check right now, seeing what I was trying to do.

Once I managed to sort out all the various smells, did I find one that didn't match anyone I knew so far. It was a softer medley, with tinges of masculinity hidden in it. Basil and Avocado.

I frowned, knowing that smells could be misleading. I was an Alpha after all, and nobody on Pandora would refer to my scent as manly or strong.

And Mark was the perfect example of an Omega with a very manly scent. So, once again, scents can be misleading.

I sniffed again, trying to measure the strength of their scent. It wasn't strong enough to be an Omega's scent, it being way too gentle for that. It was too strong to be a Beta's strength, it being far too out there for a Beta.

But I had one last test that I wanted to run.

I moved my available hand out to her, my right reaching out in a form of a wary invitation. She looked a little puzzled with the hand held out to her, as though she didn't understand why I was shaking her hand while frowning at her.

"Shake my hand" I said, not taking my eyes of her. "Not the polite version that Alpha have to do to not crush people's hands, the one that only Alpha can share"

Her puzzled look disappeared, and she smiled while moving her own right hand to cup mine.

When she finally applied pressure, did it ring true that she had been telling the truth.

A constant pressure, that seemed to not waver at all with it's intensity. She wasn't trying to shake my hand harder than she was capable of, that much was obvious to me. This was her normal strength, capable of crushing a normal persons hand with her strength.

I guess I was lucky that I was far from normal.

"You really are an Alpha" I said, the frown leaving my face to be replaced with utter shock. "I don't think I have ever met another female Alpha in my entire life"

"Same here" She said, looking very pleased with my recognition of her class. "You have no idea how it feels to find one of my own"

"Is that why you saved PJ?" I asked, looking a little skeptical of her reasoning. "To have an excuse to meet me?"

"I could see you from across the lake" She said, moving her right hand out of my own to point at a distant point at the end of the lake. "I could tell from over there that you must be an Alpha with how you acted and how everyone treated you"

"That doesn't really answer my question" I said, sighing slightly. She seemed to find the response funny, chuckling softly to herself.

"I suppose it doesn't" She said, quickly looking over to PJ with slight worry. But just as quickly as it appeared, the concern got replaced with a smile back to me. "I was also hoping that it might put me in your good books"

"Getting into my good books comes from spending time with me and proving your worth over time" I said, which caused her to nod in agreement. "First impressions can be misleading after all"

"How true that rings" She said, sighing slightly as she seemed to remember something from her past. She soon shrugged it off, looking at me once more. "I'm Joy"

"I'm Ally" I said, wondering over how quickly she could change from emotion to emotion. I had only seen this girl for a minute and she could swap from puzzled, to happy, to sad, to happy, to slightly concerned and back to happy again. "So what are your plans?"

"Tag along until I am no longer needed" Joy said, proceeding to dry more parts of her sopping wet clothing now that she seemed happy with my response. I could spy Matthias grumble slightly under his breath, not really liking the idea of having another person tag along with our already quite large group. "I'd love to see how you handle yourself out here in this place and then take some wisdom with me when I leave"

"As long as you aren't expecting a free ride out of us" I said, my frown returning to show my serious tone towards her. "I'm not looking out for you if you tag along, I already have a bunch of people that I have to look out for"

"Wouldn't dream of it" Joy said, a slightly cheeky grin coming to the foreground. "It wouldn't be very fun if I left everything up to you"

* * *

Dan's P.O.V.:

With that bombshell handled, everyone else had decided that they had enough of the lake for today. Even after I warned them that we wouldn't be back, they all seemed adamant that they were fine with the amount they went swimming or had dipped in.

Especially PJ. He didn't want to step a single foot in that lake after his surprise swimming lesson. And I didn't blame him in the slightest. Kyanna had apologized profusely to him, extremely upset for causing the problem. Apparently the reason he had fallen off was because he had saved her from tumbling off the cliff.

PJ had assured her that he was alright, but that he would like her to be more careful in the future. She had readily accepted that.

Troye had managed to fix whatever was wrong with his legs, and now PJ only had to contend with his slight phobia of falling off cliffs into water. Which luckily for him, would be very unlikely on our desert planet of Pandora.

So, now with the addition of that new Alpha girl Joy, we had... how many Alpha?

Ally, Danny, Bryan, Jfred, That skittish one Jontron and now Joy. Not to mention we didn't know if Brian was an Alpha.

Let's just assume he is. That makes seven Alpha in our group.

I mean, sure, there where still more Beta than that. But it felt like a giant amount to me.

Especially when you think back to Hollow point, where we specifically had a sign on out motel door that said 'No Alpha allowed'.

Now that I think about it, I never understood why some bandits didn't get mad and try to attack us simply because of that sign.

"Everything alright Dan?" Phil asked me, moving himself faster to catch up with me.

"Yeah, I'm just thinking about things right now" I said, shrugging my shoulders at the idea of something being wrong. Phil didn't look convinced, so I had to think of something to bring his mind away from that subject. "So, did you and Lissa get along on your little escapade together?"

"Oh, she had the best puns! I can tell you some of them right now!"

"Yeah, I think I'm fine in that regar-

"But they are so good!"

"Ugh, fine" I said, rolling my eyes dramatically at him. He smiled at my antics, and I found myself smiling along with him like always. "Go ahead"

He jumped into some nonsensical pun, something to do with a food pun. I found myself half listening to his recollection of the puns, more paying attention to how excited he seemed to be. He seemed so happy and giddy talking about the puns, but I had never seen him so excited about puns in the past.

After about seven puns, I found myself with a burning question that I just had to ask him.

"Phil?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you like Lissa?"

He paused, stopping in his long excited pun filled extravaganza. His smile dropped off his face, and he seemed to switch to his serious look that I rarely see him with.

If he really was in a joking mood, he would have responded immediately with a "of course". He would have confused the idea of 'like' with enjoying their company instead of 'love'.

But he seemed to honestly be thinking about this. Which was a little strange for Phil.

"I don't know" Phil said, his eyebrows scrunched up in thought. "I mean, she's nice"

"And you love her puns"

"Yeah, I do"

"But you didn't really think about whether or not you like her romantically?" I asked, seeing him nod his head in response. I didn't like the silence, so I tried to say something to fill the void. "Well... at least on the bright side you know how you feel about Ally, huh?"

"Yeah, I know how I feel for her"

"You love-

"I think of her as a friend" Phil said, cutting me off from finishing my sentence. I was so taken aback from his answer, that I was silent for a good four seconds. "I don't think I'm going to try and be her boyfriend"

"What?! But-But you and her- I mean, uh-

"Dan, what happened between me and her in that bathroom was an accident, emotions running wild and our bodies reacting" Phil explained, waving his hand to try and calm me down. "None of that was the both of us really looking for a relationship"

"Wait... Is that why her scent didn't transfer to you?" I asked, remembering that incident where we all sat around the table. "Because you didn't see her as a real potential for a mate?"

"Yeah, I guess that would make the most sense"

"But-But what about that reason you gave when PJ had her scent?!"

"Anyone would be upset if they thought they weren't good enough to be a mate" Phil once again tried to explain to me. It was moments like these where I remembered how much more mature he was than me. "Doesn't mean I wanted her to be my mate"

"And what about the time where we were going to ask PJ for advice?!"

"Because I suck at kissing" Phil laughed, mimicking some silly kisses in the air around him. I was still so shocked that I found myself not really laughing at his joke. Once the silence took too long, Phil kept going in his explanation. "I wanted to know what to do when I actually had someone I wanted to kiss romantically, but it didn't mean I wanted to kiss her"

"What about telling her to kiss the cook when you were cooking?! Or when we were both in the truck and you were asking her to 'reward' you when you got out?!"

"Dan, those were jokes" Phil said, laughing while shaking his head at me. "Besides, don't you remember who else was cooking at that time?"

Me.

It was me who was also cooking at the same time as him.

"You were trying to get her to kiss me?" I asked, seeing him nod his head with a gentle smile on his lips now that I understood. "But-I don't...Wha-Why?"

"Please, Dan" Phil said, giving me a sort of jokingly big brother look at me. A look that was asking if I was stupid. "Did you really think I wouldn't have noticed the sudden change in how you two interacted?"

"What sudden change?!"

"Going from her shyly talking to you, with you responding rudely back" Phil said, using his hands to emphasise the difference between the two differences. Ow, it kind of hurt to hear how I treated her at first. "To you calling her cute names, flirting with her and her jabbing you in the arm"

I didn't say anything in response to that. The very fact that Phil didn't like her romantically, and the fact that he could spot so easily how we had changed around each other made me stop and think.

This of course didn't stop Phil with his sudden urge to talk.

"The truth is, even if I did like her, I don't think I would have won over her heart anyway"

"Wha-What made you think that?" (Because the plot demanded it XD) (Sorry, back to serious point)

"Because she obviously has eyes for just one person" Phil said, shrugging his shoulders while looking content. He seemed perfectly fine with how things had turned out between the two of them. "Maybe two if I am reading her correctly"

"Who are they?" I asked, my curiosity brimming to the boil. I had to know, if Phil was so good at reading people.

He once again looked at me with that look. Asking as if I was an idiot.

"Me?"

"Yes, you" Phil said, laughing as though he thought it was stupid that I hadn't noticed it yet. "Dan, she looks at you like something she has been looking for her entire life"

"But what if you're wrong?"

"I'm not"

"Alright fine, whatever" I said, sighing a little and finding my cheeks heating up in the moment. "Who's the second one?"

"See, I'm not too sure about the second one" Phil said, crossing his arms over his chest. "She either sees him as a person that she loves, or she views him as someone she wants to protect"

"Like a child?"

"Child, close friend she feels protective over" Phil said, tilting his head from side to side as he said each one. "Something like that"

"Alright alright, but who is it?!"

"Mark"

Of course. Of fucking course.

I guess I should have seen that coming from the time he stumbled out of her room that one night. Now that I think about it, we didn't really get an answer from Ally or Mark what happened that time.

I'm gonna ask her about it sometime.

"Ally! Oh thank god you're here!"

All of our group's attention got brought over to Suzy, who was running over to us from the truck. She seemed very worried about something that had obviously happened in our absence.

It had her so worried, she had apparently forgotten to put on her shirt.

While the rest of us tried not to look at her undergarments, she ran up to Ally and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"There's someone really scary on the radio who has demanded that he wants to speak to you"


	40. (40) My demons

Dan's P.O.V.: (Just a quick thanks to everyone for getting this story to 4000+ reads and 650+ readers! It really means a lot to me :D)

All of us had moved to be around the truck, a lot of people asking Arin about the person on the radio. I didn't ask anything, knowing how futile it would be to try and shout over everyone else.

"Why the hell didn't you ask who it was?!" Barry asked his comrade, his voice reaching a decibel I had never heard him capable of before.

"Weren't you listening to Suzy from before?!" Arin yelled back, seeming like he was not concerned about his friend shouting at him. "The dude got ultra pissed whenever I tried to find out!"

The only silent ones, minus me, seemed to be Ally and her old co-workers. They hung around on the outskirts of the entire group, looking at the ensuing chaos. None of them said anything to each other, seemingly communicating via taps and little hand signals. Military perhaps?

Eventually Bryan noticed my gaze, soon after doing a different signal to the three of them. The rest of their group shifted their eyes to me, which gave me the impression that his signal meant that someone was watching them.

Ally's eyes softened as they looked over at me, very upset at something. What that something was, I had no idea.

All I know is that she looked as if she was feeling upset for causing something.

She had mentioned that she was running away from her boss, that Tassiter guy. Were all three of them running away from him? If that was so, why did the person on the radio just ask for Ally?

"You know, I am very aware that your entire group is around your truck right now" said a voice coming out of the radio, which suddenly hushed everyone else around us. I mean, I was grateful for the lack of shouting, but everyone seemed scared out of their wits. "How hard can it be to get one specific girl on the radio? That is, unless you lot like being bombed of course"

Jade let out a small fear filled wail, taking steps away from the truck in fear. Jack stopped her in her tracks, trying to gently talk to her. She cried as he talked to her, but she seemed to be appreciating someone trying to calm her.

Lissa seemed rooted to the spot, covering her chest with her arms in some way of protection. Maybe she felt safer that way. Phil saw her fear filled eyes, moving his right arm around her to gently pull her to him. She seemed to resist it at first, mostly from the physical contact. But she soon allowed herself to be half held by him, hiding her face in his shoulder.

Kyanna moved herself behind PJ, wrapping her arms around his chest. He was a bit taken aback by the movement, but soon relaxed in her grip. Last I saw of those two, PJ had moved his hands to hold hers, while she still clung to his back.

"Are you alright?" Chris asked Joy, and she looked at him as though he had just offended her by asking that. His voice echoed very loud in the silence.

"I'm not some dainty flower you need to protect" Joy said, crossing her arms and frowning at him. Chris shrugged his shoulders, not really seeing the connection between both conversations.

"I didn't say you were" Chris said, frowning a little himself. Not a truly angry frown, but more a mixture of confusion and slight disappointment. "A person can be a badass for their entire life and still get scared by something"

"I'm not scared" She gruffly responded, still frowning intensely at him. Chris sighed as a response, slightly more annoyed.

"You don't have to be fearless to be respected you know" Chris said, ticked off from the rude attitude.

"As a woman, people easily look down on us from the moment we announce we are afraid" Joy said, shaking her head at him.

"And you assume that I'm that sort of person?"

"I didn't-

"Then stop acting like you think that" Chris said, cutting her off. She seemed taken aback by someone cutting her off, probably because Alpha don't often get off by Beta out on Pandora. "Just because some people treated you like that before, does not mean that everyone is the same"

Chris found that enough, falling silent after noticing that she didn't have some angry or rough response. God, I hope I wasn't like that with all the people I met for the first time.

She, for once, didn't seem to have an instant response to that. She did have a response later on, but not one that I really expected to hear from her.

"I'm sorry"

Chris hummed, showing her that he had heard her perfectly fine. The both of them didn't look at each other, looking at the radio in case it decided to reactivate with more threatening messages.

They exchanged some small words afterwards, falling silent afterwards.

"I'm here for you, if you need it"

"I know"

Nobody else seemed to move, or talk for that matter. The silence seemed deafening in the usual rowdy bunch we called a group.

I guess it's true. That trick that police officers do to try and get you to talk about things. They purposely don't talk, in the hope that you fill in the void with bits of information.

It usually works too.

Footsteps. Someone was walking over to the truck.

I turned my head to the noise, seeing various other people do so. Makes sense, they want to know what is going on as much as I do. And at least they can understand who is walking to the truck rather than nothing at all.

It was Ally, her face set hard in a emotionless, yet somewhat angry look. Her eyes weren't full of question, so she must know who this person was.

That, or she was really pissed off and didn't care who it might be.

"Now, unless you bunch of blithering morons want to be able to count your insides" The person on the radio continued to threaten, upset with the lack of response from anyone. "I suggest you get Ally and put her on the radio, or so help me, I'll!-

She snatched the babbling radio receiver from Arin's hands, pushing the button in one motion and smoothly cutting off his further tirade.

"I'm here"

He immediately stopped in his tirade, not even sounding like he was going to angrily shout at her for interrupting him.

"It would seem so" He responded, apparently recognising her voice instantly. "Looks like you've found a pretty big group, which is a shame if you're trying to hide"

She didn't respond to his jab, instead sighing deeply to herself. She seemed to have a million conflicting emotions in her eyes, and none of them seemed to come out in words.

"Lost for words, eh?" He chuckled, seemingly finding her silence funny. "You always used to have a quick response or snarky quip"

"What do you want?" Ally asked, her tone taking a slightly more annoyed version of what she usually had around us. Not surprising, as this guy seemed to make her blood boil while we merely annoyed her at some rare moments.

"Nothing, Princess, I want nothing from you" He said, and I could spy her eye twitch at the nickname he gave her. She seemed like she wanted to yell at him for using such a name, but held her tongue in barely restrained anger.

But what came next, chilled everyone to the core.

"I'm just letting you know that I'm coming to get you"

"JA!-

"See you soon"

Static was all that remained, the voice all of us heard suddenly leaving with those final eerie words.

Nobody moved, and once again, nobody said anything. What could we say? We had all heard everything he had said perfectly.

And nobody heard it more clear, than Ally herself.

But despite hearing it the clearest, she didn't seem to know what to do with the sudden information. Her eyes seemed to jump from emotion to emotion in a matter of seconds. Confused, surprise, anger and finally sadness.

Sadness seemed to be the one to drive itself home the fullest, and I almost tell she had gone into a state of panic when she dropped the receiver in her hand without a word.

Her eyes darted all over the place, mumbling things to herself about what she should do. She held her head in her hands, and I could see the tears well up in her eyes.

I don't think I had ever seen Ally cry.

Wait, no. That isn't true. She cried when we were going into that bandit arena and she thought that we might die.

But still, I wasn't fine with just watching her break down. I wanted to help her.

Just as I started to make my way over to her, could I see someone else also almost make their way over to her as well. Matthias from her old co-workers. He stopped when he saw me move, curiously enough.

But I didn't care who might also be on their way to her. I was going to help her, regardless of whether or not she had twelve people supporting her or none.

When I stopped in front of her, she didn't even seem to react in the slightest. Almost as though she couldn't see me.

"Ally" I called out her name, and her head snapped over to look at me. Her eyes were wide, almost a deer in headlights look. I had arrived too late, a couple of tears already spilling out from her left eye.

I moved my hands over her ears, and she looked a little confused between the both of them. It wasn't to try and drown out the world to her, but to bring her attention to me. To bring her mind away from her own noisy thoughts that were rattling in her brain.

I could feel her hair in between my fingers, it being a soft bunch of locks that looked a little haywire from the stress of last week. Why did this remind me so much of that time back at the bandit base?

Back when I told her I loved her, and held her close to me.

"Ally, what do you want to do?" I asked her, seeing her eyes widen at my question. If that was even possible to do at this point. Heck, some people might have even told me that she couldn't hear me at all, reading my lips instead.

"I don't know..." Ally cried, tears now fully falling down the left side of her face. I momentarily caught myself wondering why she couldn't cry out of her right eye, but I shoved it away as a question to ask her later about. "I just... I just don't know..."

I pulled her close to me, and I could feel her do the same once she realised what I was doing.

She wrapped her arms tight around me. A little too tight at one point, and she soon realised her mistake when I uttered a small groan of pain.

I found myself doing the same things as I did both those times I held her. Back in our bathroom at the motel, and the bandit base in Hollow point.

Right hand, on her back. Left hand, interlaced gently in her hair. Her head nestled into the crook of my left shoulder, the palms of her hands on the blades of my back.

For just a little while, I imagined that it was just us. Just us against the world.


	41. (41) Kill the lights

Ally's P.O.V.: (For anyone who isn't already in love with all the youtubers in this story, please go and give them some love on their YouTube channels! Anyone who doesn't know their YouTube channel names, you can feel free to ask me for them so you can go and love them as much as I do! Thanks for listening to me ramble, and I hope you enjoy the chapter :D)

"How are you feeling now?" Bryan asked me, patting my shoulder in a fatherly way.

"I'm scared Bryan"

"I know you are, I know"

The truck underneath us suddenly jumped a little underneath us, probably from a small ditch underneath the wheels. Me, Bryan and Jfred all seemed to handle the little jump fine, all of us slightly swaying but not much more. Matthias, who had been walking around the truck for some stupid reason, didn't take it so well and fell over near us.

Jfred laughed loudly at his brother, pointing at him obnoxiously to try and make me laugh. Matthias and Bryan laughed as well, but I had the feeling that Matthias was only laughing because he was trying to help me laugh. Otherwise he probably would have complained loudly at his brothers like usual.

I found myself chuckling softly at his antics, and all three of my pals seemed silently pleased with the quiet noises.

I looked once more over the area on top of the truck, seeing nobody else to hear our discussions. Just us four.

Like when we first left Hyperion.

"Where are Danny and Brian?" I asked Bryan, who was the closest to me. He turned his head to show he had heard me, his dark brown pools seemingly swimming with confusion. "I would have thought that the people in the truck would have thrown a fit at the idea of an Alpha in the truck at the moment"

"I guess they must have not really cared too much about who was on top with us" Bryan said, shrugging his shoulders while looking at the lack of people on top of the truck. "Everyone did freak out after that message from our boss"

"Old boss" Matthias corrected his brother, to which Bryan simply shrugged his shoulders once more. He didn't really care for such little mistakes at this point in time.

I could feel his body move and flex with every movement, my position in his lap making it easy to feel him twist and turn. His powerful movements served as a constant reminder to his class, just like I had often been reminded of it back when I worked alongside them. His arms and shoulders seemed tense, despite his attempts to calm me. I guess his fatherly instinct was battling against his own survival instinct.

His body was probably having loads of adrenaline coursing through it, just like mine was earlier.

The only difference between me and him now, was that Dan had managed to somehow break through all the thoughts and panic at the time. Allowed me to break down.

So now all that adrenaline and fear from earlier had changed into sadness and a lethargic feeling. I felt like I was tired.

Was I tired of running? Tired of pretending that I wasn't a person who had worked with the worst person on this planet?

Or just tired of the idea of never being free? It could have been anything.

Was I tired of living? No, certainly not. Had I grown tired of the constant little bumps in the short while I had been down on this hellhole called a planet?

Well, I admit. That one I am a little bit sick of.

It seemed to never end.

"Ally, we need to talk" Matthias said, scooting himself over to me on his butt rather than walking over to us. His earlier tumble seemed to make him more wary of walking around on the truck roof. "We can't delay this anymore"

"I'm not abandoning them" I stubbornly grumbled, wanting to drop the talk. I knew how inevitable it was going to be that he would find us, and yet my mind seemed to have the idea that I could not leave my boys.

"Look, I'm not going to argue with you on your definition of abandon" Matthias said, rolling his eyes at the similar answer to before. "But there's no denying that they, and us might I mention, will be much safer if we leave"

"I hate to agree with Matthias on anything" Jfred said, turning his lying form over to look at me from his relaxed position nearby. Matthias rolled his eyes at his brother, but didn't interrupt his explanation. "But Hyperion is likely to lose interest in them the moment we aren't with them"

"But what if they don't?" I asked, my eyes laced with worry.

"Trust me, he won't pay attention to anything else other than you" Bryan said, trying to comfort me further. Everyone of them seemed to have already thought of this extensively. "He always has held you as number one in his eyes since Nisha and Angel died"

"Heck, I had the feeling that you were number one even when both of those lived" Jfred said, laughing a little to himself. He stopped laughing the moment he realised nobody else joined in with him. "He always has cared for you"

"He could use them as leverage" I said softly, hoping that people would stop this nonsense of abandoning.

"Why would he use them as leverage?!" Matthias asked, looking down at the truck almost as though he could see the numerous people inside. I knew he couldn't, that would be ridiculous. "No offense, but they don't really seem that special to me"

"Because you know that's the kind of person he is" I said, looking gravely between each person present. "He'd probably use your families as leverage if he knew who they were"

"But he doesn't" Bryan said, the confidence in his voice losing it's intensity the more he spoke to me.

"Not yet" I whispered, and I could spy Matthias and Bryan's eyes widen. Their wives and children meant everything to them, and the possible remote thought of our boss going after them no doubt already frightened the living daylights out of them.

I was probably not helping in that regard.

"The only way he would know anything about our families is if you told him" Jfred said plainly, looking slightly worried as he explained things to me. "You're the only one who even knows some of their names"

"Yeah, some random names that you guys would spout" I said, looking confused as to why he would think I would tell him. "Bryan is married to a person called Sarah with two daughters Arianna and Isabella, Matthias has a child called Luna and Amanda is her mother"

"See, this is what I mean" Jfred said, shrugging his shoulders. "You are the only person we worked with that knows that much"

"Well, she didn't know about-

"Oh yeah, didn't your third little girl get born a short while ago?" I asked Bryan before he could finish, seeing him smile fondly at the memories. "Congratulations on that by the way"

"Thanks" Bryan laughed, and I could feel his chest rise and fall with his chuckles. "Huh, I guess I did tell you about that"

"But the company does have some secret records on employees that they deem important" I said, remembering some things that my boss talked about long ago. "I'm hoping he didn't think to get any on you guys, but the chances are high that he decided to try and dig them up a month ago"

"When we left" Jfred sighed, lying back down on the roof. "Well, that's what we tell people"

"Our departure from Helios way a lot more violent and dangerous than simply the words 'We left' can convey" Matthias sighed, remembering the day we had broken out.

(Flashback)

Despite the tension in all the air, our minds racing with the idea of truly being hunted by the man that everyone feared, we seemed to understand how to keep our cool.

I guess we had simply worked so long in this profession that something like this didn't phase as much as it would have for someone else.

"Come on, we don't have time to waste" Bryan said, leading our little group out of the jail cells. "He's going to notice something is off the moment Ally doesn't show up on the bio signature for the cells"

"Or the moment the guards ask him for validation on our code" Jfred laughed softly to himself. "I'm honestly surprised that they didn't call him up the moment you flashed that executive code Matthias"

"They probably were too scared that the both of you were going to beat them up" I said plainly, looking between both tall and burly Alpha. "The moment Matthias also flashed the executive code must have been the final nail in the coffin"

"They didn't even check it" Bryan said, shaking his from side to side. "Not that I'm complaining"

We rounded the corner of the jail cells, hoping to be able to run down to the elevator before anyone even noticed that we were gone. I got the feeling our luck might have run out the moment I saw the guards returning down the corridor.

Well, half of the original guards. My jail cell had been guarded by ten people before and I could only count five now.

Our luck might have switched over to bad luck if those five had gone to ask my boss about the authenticity of that code.

"Hey! Wha-Why is the prisoner out of her cell?!" The guard asked, looking at me as though I was some kind of monster.

"We were transferring her over to another location" Bryan said plainly, taking an annoyed tone to intimidate the guard. It was a perfect medley of annoyed and bored, which most Alpha would easily reproduce. "Boss's orders"

The guard looked flustered at the sudden orders. Bryan was a higher rank than him after all. The guard seemed to be looking between us, and then his own allies. His allies also gave confused looks, obviously not sure what to do with the orders.

 **"Move out of the way"** Jfred growled, taking a step forward angrily to the guards. Almost as if it was some silly game, the guards all took one frightened step back to match Jfred's.

The elevator behind the guards suddenly flared into life, someone trying to make their way down to the floor that we were on. Matthias clicked his tongue in annoyance, while Bryan and Jfred shared a final look before they acted.

Bryan took a single step back before charging at the foremost member of the guard, throwing him and two other people behind him into the elevator door with a loud crash. Another guard tried to turn his gun to Bryan, but his gun got knocked out of his arms by a long sweeping kick from Jfred. The final untouched member of the guard tried to throw up his hands in the air in defeat, but the idiot apparently seemed to not know that you usually drop your gun in that circumstance.

"I give up! I give-

Jfred still didn't trust a guy who held a gun in his hands, throwing a punch directly into the guys gut. The guard let out a short pain filled cry, before eventually falling still in Jfred's grip.

As Bryan and Jfred started to clear the unconscious forms of the guards, Matthias ran forward and started to tinker with the small display module on the elevator.

"Ally, pull that panel over there off for me, will you?" Matthias said hurriedly, pointing to a small little gray panel above the module. I ran over to him, hovering over him as he crouched at the bright blue display. It didn't take me long to tear the little panel off the sockets it was attached to. "You got it? Now tell me what colour wires there are"

"One green and two yellow"

"Aha! So we don't have a gravity pull to control the cabins in this elevator! Just a old fashioned pulley system with long steel cables most likely" Matthias deduced, pulling out the small hand gun he usually had hidden in his blue armour. "Now take this and shoot only the green wire"

"Why only the green wire?" I asked, looking thoroughly confused with the instructions. "Surely shooting all of them would do the trick?"

"The green wire controls the pulley system, while the other two simply control the lights and the doors" Matthias explained quickly, his fingers dancing across the display like there was no tomorrow. Well, for the three of them that might end up being truth if my boss figure out their plan to break me out. "If only the pulley system goes out, I can blame the claptraps on another level with a well timed virus"

I nodded my head, quickly aiming down the sights at the specific wire. The wires were grouped close together, tied to each other no doubt with plastic ties.

A normal person would have difficulty with that shot.

But someone who has had to make a sniper shot at a millimeter and millisecond specifics should have no problem with that. I guess I had to thank my years of training by my boss. How ironic that I was using them now.

I pulled the trigger smoothly, knowing that Matthias's gun wasn't the kind to keep firing if you held down the trigger. A small noise occurred, almost the sound of someone quietly saying 'Pew' followed by the sound of a pin dropping on the floor.

The wire was no more, and I could spy Matthias giving a triumphant grin a moment later. He let out a small satisfied chuckle when he successfully uploaded the virus into a small unimportant floor on the station.

"And you guys say that my talent is useless" Matthias triumphantly said, holding out his hand for his gun back. As I handed it back, Jfred scoffed as he jogged his way over to us.

"I said your talent was useless in a fight" Jfred said, handing Matthias a full clip of pistol ammo that he had no doubt looted off one of the guards pockets. "Nobody is going to want to know about their Facebook status in the middle of a fight"

Matthias scoffed in return, but didn't bother to return a jab at his younger brother. We had more important things to do.

Without needing to ask us, the three Alpha in our group (Which included me of course) started to pull against the heavy metal doors to open them. Once we got them open enough, could we see the wire in front of us. It was still, the cabin nearly reaching it's destination from just below us.

Matthias wasted no time in jumping onto Bryan's back, due to Bryan being the best to carry him. Bryan was the first to leap onto the wire, it holding sturdy as he got his grip on it. When Bryan started to climb, Jfred quickly turned to me.

"Want to jump on my back?" Jfred asked, pausing in his run up to the wire. "You still look like you could use some recovery time after that you got stunned from the stun gun"

"No, I think it's best if I keep moving" I explained, flexing my muscles. "My body will shut down if I leave everything up to you guys"

"If you're certain" Jfred said, before launching himself onto the wire. "You need to let us know if you need help down there!"

"Of course!" I said, rolling my eyes before jumping onto the wire myself. It felt sturdy underneath my fingers, and I started to shimmy my way up by wrapping my legs around it.

"You know what would suck right now?" Jfred asked, a grin on his face. How he could make a joke at a time like this was beyond my understanding. "If the elevator started up while we were in here"

"Don't even joke about that!" Matthias yelled down at his younger brother, obviously unhappy with the remark. "You'll jinx us you moron!"

* * *

Half an hour later, along with some slightly tired arms, did we reach the floor we were hoping to reach.

The hub of Hyperion. The main floor of this entire building, the amazing star views reminding us of our position in orbit of Pandora.

We crawled out of the open elevator shaft, booking it towards the escape pods to make it out before someone even knew we were here.

Some people turned to wave at us as we passed them, and we occasionally waved back. From the happy faces and carefree looks it became clear that nobody had heard of my surprise incarceration.

My boss must have not told anyone about what had happened this morning. I suppose he wouldn't have wanted them to know about this morning, me deciding to leave the company.

Did he really think that if he had ignored the problem, that it would have gone away or something? Did he truly believe that he could have let me out of that cell in a couple of days and that I would have forgotten what he had said?

I would never forget. Those words.

"I'm going to get rid of it all" He had said to me, looking at Pandora with the rage of a million suns to back him up. "I'm finally going to free everyone from the blight of Pandora by nuking this god forsaken planet"

Millions. No, Billions. Billions of people would die.

True, Pandora was far from the best place to live. There were millions of bandits and the native animals seemed to have a vendetta against everything they see.

But far in excess on that planet, where the people that couldn't leave. They were born poor on the planet, with no choice but to remain there.

They would all die a needless death simply because they lived on a planet. A planet they probably couldn't leave.

It wasn't fair to them.

"So what's the plan?" Jfred asked, side stepping around a lady bustling around with a giant stack of documents. "The escape pod, and then?"

"Go down to Pandora"

"Are you insane?!" Matthias asked, looking at me as if I had just told him to commit suicide. He lowered his voice a considerable amount the moment he saw some of his coworkers look a little concerned in his direction. "You had told us that he planned to nuke the planet!"

"Exactly, that's why we are heading down there" I explained, my voice at the same low volume as Matthias's just was. Bryan and Jfred leaned in closer to be able to hear me clearly, and we all stumbled a little from the way our feet cramped together. Eventually we got our footing back, and I found the courage to say my possible final words to these boys. "He won't nuke the planet if there is even a remote chance of me being on it"

"Sounds dangerous" Jfred said slowly, his voice taking a almost deep and raspy tone with his love volume. I could spy his lips twist upwards into another of his trademark grins, and I could feel the plan had come across well in his mind. "I love it"

"I suppose it does make sense" Bryan said nodding his head, looking over to Matthias a moment later. "Any complaints?"

"Loads" Matthias said, sighing softly. "But I don't have a better plan right now, so let's go with that"

"Alright, let's do this"

"Booyah baby~"

(One last thing before I go, who is your favourite Team edge member? It can simply be how I write them, how they look, how they act or you simply know them from their channel! Thanks again and have a lovely day my dear readers! :D)


	42. (42) Another brick in the wall

Ally's P.O.V.: (As explained previously, this is the continuation of the flashback from the last chapter)

"Are you sure this plan of yours is going to work?" Jfred asked, looking over at Matthias as he explained the dodgy plan to him. "I mean, our boss might not even have noticed-

"Did you three idiots seriously not expect me to notice that she isn't in her cell anymore?" Came that ever so eerie and familiar voice over the intercom over the entire station. "Not to mention those guards you bullied into letting her go, ended up checking with me about your 'executive' code"

I could spy Jfred and Bryan tense tremendously with the taunt, fighting the urge to bolt for the escape pods. Matthias placed his left arm around my shoulders, keeping my own nervous steps in time with him.

"Don't run" Matthias whispered to the lot of us, seeing our nervous eyes turn to him. "Everyone around us won't know it's us until he announces our names, which he might not even do due to wanting to keep Ally's transgression a secret"

The biggest glaring obvious flaw with that plan would have been our downfall if our coworkers had any ounce of intelligence. While everyone else around us was staring up at their nearest loudspeaker, we were the only ones still moving.

Some people didn't even notice that we were moving until Jfred or Bryan would have to gently move them out of their way. I could see that each person they had to move would irritate both boys further, them fighting against their own instinct to throw people out of their way.

They could easily do that after all, their strength along with mine probably enough to lift an entire battle cruiser. But we had to keep ourselves in check. Otherwise everyone would realise it's us.

I guess I should be thankful for my boss hiring people who don't think beyond orders.

"How rude, the lot of you are apparently completely ignoring me" Our boss said over the intercom, and Jfred took another look over to Matthias for his signal. "I can see your biosignatures you know, and you guys are REALLY starting to piss me off!"

"Matt" Jfred hissed to his brother, a look of irritation on his face. He was not comfortable with hearing these words and also having to keep himself in check.

"Not yet" Matthias whispered once again, not letting his younger brother run off to do his allocated part of the plan.

I felt bad for Jfred, due to the fact he probably had the most difficult part of our plan. He had to run to the power core and shut it down on his own, while I at least had Matthias and Bryan to back me up on our trek to the small vault we held on Helios.

Not to mention, if my boss had decided to send all the guards after him instead of us, Jfred would surely either perish or be captured before he could get his job done.

And then we would all be screwed. Everything was riding on Matthias's plan going as planned and Jfred getting his end of the job done.

"Fine then! Seeing as you three won't return her to me, I guess I will have to do this the old fashioned way!" My boss angrily snarled over the intercom, and I knew now was the time.

"Now!" Matthias whispered to the three of us once we were clear of the giant crowd gathered in the Hub of heroism. All four of us had worked long enough with our boss to recognise that he was going to announce our names over the intercom.

"GUARDS! CAPTURE THE EMPLOYEES BRYAN, MATTHIAS AND JFRED! DON'T LET THEM ESCAPE WITH THE FEMALE EMPLOYEE THEY CAPTURED!"

Sure. "Captured". Whatever you want to believe, you absolute madman.

Jfred immediately bolted off to our left the moment he got the approval from his brother, dashing off into the distance. It didn't take long for me to lose sight of him, and the only thing I knew now was that Jfred had only himself to rely on at that point on.

While Jfred ran off to our left, I turned and immediately followed behind Bryan as he headed for the other well-known elevator in the building. Except this one had a gravity pull installed into it, so it was still likely to be functional unlike the one we had disabled.

"What the hell?! HA! Looks like one of your so-called pals has abandoned you!" My boss cackled, and I couldn't help but feel a little relieved with that remark. It might be that he doesn't realise what we are up to.

That, or he perfectly realised what we were up to and simply didn't want to give that part away. God, I hoped Jfred was alright in all of this going on.

Me and Mathias were a couple of steps behind Bryan as he charged ahead, allowing him to handle the first three guards that rounded our corner before they could even understand that it was us coming towards them. It simply took Bryan charging into two of them, before launching a kick to the groin to the last, for the three of them to be out cold.

Bryan looked behind him quickly to make sure that both of us were still following behind fine, and looked a little concerned at my slightly lethargic running and Matthias wheezing a little. Matthias had never been fit, and my system was still in a state of shock from the stun gun that had been used on me only about two hours before this all happened.

"Don't worry about us" I said, noticing his concerned eyes filled with panic. "We can handle ourselves in this situation, you need to make sure no guards get a shot off against us"

Bryan sighed, but seemed to nod his head in understanding. He knew very well that he couldn't fight well with one person on his back, let alone the both of us.

It wasn't a case of him having too much to carry, it was a case of the fact he would worry about hurting us as he swung his body and fists around. We would restrain some of his shoulder muscles, no doubt him being afraid to throw us off by accident.

Long story short, it wouldn't work.

"We shouldn't be too far from the elevator" Matthias said, as we rounded the corner. Just as he told us, the elevator was straight ahead of us.

A couple of guards turned their head to look at us as we ran by them, but for some reason they didn't seem to really register that we were the ones they needed to capture.

"Excuse me!" One of the guards called out to us as we ran by them, not really minding the fact that we didn't stop to talk to him. "Terribly sorry, but we're all new here so would you mind telling us who these Bryan, Jfred and Matthias chaps are?"

"Oh, you're looking for a really short midget, a robot with sentient feelings and a gay guy" Bryan rambled out, and I could tell from his mannerisms that he was trying his hardest to not laugh.

"Thanks for that!" The guard thanked our retreating forms, turning to his lackeys and passing on the false info.

I turned my heads to both of my companions, seeing their each individual reaction. Bryan had given up on trying to stop himself from laughing, putting his arm in front of his mouth and loudly chuckling behind it. Matthias, well, you could tell he was trying his hardest to not laugh. He was failing miserably though, small wheezes escaping his lips.

Due to the mistake those guards made, we didn't even have to hurry that much into the elevator. We climbed in the moment it arrived and watched almost a little apprehensively as the doors closed.

Part of me believed that it might have been some gigantic cruel joke, that those guards knew exactly who we were. That they were simply waiting for the doors to be half closed and then proceed to open fire.

We had no shields on, all three of us anxiously hoping the doors would close faster. It seemed so achingly slow.

They didn't turn their head at all to us, the doors closing smoothly without any sort of peep or squeak from them.

Bryan, Matthias and I all looked at the closed doors, some of us let out a deep breath that we had been holding from the moment we saw those guards.

My high adrenaline from running, the feeling of being chased as well as the rush of laughter from earlier made me a little bit delirious. I found myself laughing almost like a madman.

But hey, it wasn't just me. Bryan started almost as soon as I had, with Matthias soon using me as something to lean on while he proceeded to join in on our mad laughter.

"They didn't know it was us!" Bryan laughed, having to lean against the side of the elevator to not drop to the floor. "Oh my god, my sides!"

"How in the heck did those guys not know?!" Matthias asked, his eyes watering slightly from the amount of laughter he exuded. "They could have even guessed from the fact that we were running!"

"I think the fact we lost Jfred made them rethink it" I said, trying to calm myself down. I couldn't afford another lot of emotions messing up my thoughts or actions during our escape. "They saw two guys with one girl, and immediately dismissed us as the possible suspects because they were told to look for three guys with a captured female"

"Hah! Just like usual then" Matthias teased us, winking to show he was joking for good measure. "People never assume we're hooligans when Jfred isn't with us"

"Hey man, don't be mean" I teased him back, trying to gently jab him in the shoulder. The moment he complained about excessive pain in his arm, I knew he was relaxed.

Good. A relaxed Matthias means a Matthias that is able to think.

"You absolute morons! They ran right past you into the elevator!" My boss growled over the intercom, bringing the three of us out of our delirious state. Well, sort of. "Yes, I'm talking to you! Who else do you think saw two Alpha and a Beta run into an elevator?!"

"We need to get onto the top of this carriage" Matthias commanded to his brother in law, pointing to the hatch on the roof. "We need to get out before he stops the carriage remotely and brings us to a level he has guards on"

"Come here Ally" Bryan said, waving me over and then moving his hands into a position to boost me up. "I'll get you up onto the roof and you pull Matthias and me up afterwards"

"Why can't she just jump up?" Matthias asked, seeing the both of us move to try and push the hatch door out of the way.

"The jump will mess with the gravity pull" I explained quickly, feeling the hatch open with a satisfying pop. I moved it roughly out of the way and moved my arms into a position where I could pull myself up. "Not to mention I might cause a dent in the floor"

I pulled myself up and out of the carriage of the elevator, suddenly feeling my hair whip into flurries of untamed hair. The speed of the carriage caused a rush of air to circulate around the entire thing, and I occasionally had to move my hair out of my eyes to ensure I could still see. Long hair sucks in a situation if you can't control it.

I found it hard to hear something that Matthias was yelling up at me, so I simply communicated back to them in military signals that I couldn't understand either of them. Matthias seemed to sigh, if his mannerisms were anything to go by, but then communicated back for me to help him up.

Bryan gave Matthias a gentle boost up, not as sturdy as the one he had given me so that I had time to properly get a hold on Matthias. Hooking my arms under his armpits did the trick, and soon Matthias stood on top of the carriage alongside me.

Matthias tried to shout something at me, probably complaining about the loud whooshing around us. I simply shrugged back at him, giving the same military signal to show I couldn't understand him. He sighed again, his mouth once again being the biggest hint to that, and then crouched near the open hatch and pointed between Bryan and me. He wanted me to help him up before we did anything further.

I reached my arms down, giving Bryan a possible thing to grab on to. It would be easier for the both of us if he ended doing most of the work to pull himself up.

Just as Bryan grabbed onto my wrists with his hands, did the elevator suddenly come to a screeching halt. Well, not actually screeching of course. A gravity pull doesn't screech when it stops.

I held my balance pretty well, my feet driven hard into the roof on the carriage. Bryan seemed to swing slightly in the sudden change, but soon focused on simply getting himself up from his precarious position.

"Ugh, you three should have known that I knew you were in the elevator" My boss sighed over the intercom, the three of us sort of hearing him due to the speaker in the elevator. "Honestly, I at least expected better from the so-called 'brain' of your group"

Matthias scoffed and rolled his eyes at the voice of my boss, grumbling slightly under his breath.

"You try to form up a plan in two minutes while a psychopath is after you with a gigantic army of bodyguards" Matthias grumbled, completely forgetting to help me with getting Bryan up onto the roof of the carriage. Not that the both of us really needed his help, but Bryan still seemed to not like Matthias leaving everything up to a eighteen year old. "It's not as easy as it looks"

Bryan soon clambered his way onto the roof of the carriage, looking up above us. He pointed at one particular set of doors five meters above where we stood on the carriage.

"I think that's the floor we need to be at" Bryan explained, and I was thankful for the ability to hear him clearly now. Lord knows it would have taken forever to explain things in military signals. "We'll get up the same way we did in the carriage before the boss decides to move the elevator"

"I'm a little worried about something" Matthias mumbled to himself, and I found myself looking at him with a questioning look while Bryan braced himself to give me a running boost. My look was apparently enough for him to explain the worry in his mind. "I've been counting in my mind how long it should approximately take for Jfred to take down the power core"

"And?" I asked him, preparing myself to run into the boost that Bryan had ready.

"And it's been longer than that" Matthias explained quickly, looking at the watch on his wrist. "Even if he went completely animal on the thing, he should have been done by now by a good three minutes"

I wanted to try and reassure him on this account, but Bryan's hurried motions for me to jump up distracted me. Either way, if we didn't get our job done, it won't matter if Jfred had managed to do his job. We'd all be screwed regardless.

I felt another rush of air as I was launched into the air by Bryan, this one being of our own creation rather than the elevator from before. Bryan had seemingly misjudged the distance, causing me to have to grab onto the ledge of the door before I fell back down to the both of them.

"When you boost Matthias up, you need to give him just a little more power than you did for me" I told Bryan down below me, and I could see him give me a thumbs up. "I didn't put any power into my jump, so you shouldn't have to double it for Matthias"

"Have you caught someone like this before?" Matthias asked me, looking nervously at Bryan who was preparing himself to launch Matthias. "Not to mention, shouldn't you open the door before we do this?"

"I was just getting on the door" I laughed, rolling my eyes and head to show I was trying to make light of the tense situation. He was already getting tense, and the added stress of his brother's current fate. "And about the catching someone, um... I think I have done it once or twice"

"Yeah, sounds like not enough experience in my book" Matthias laughed, but you could tell his laugh held a little concern. I was hoping to god and back that he wasn't thinking about his brother in this regard, cause then my joke would have had zero effect on trying to lift his mood.

Speaking of his brother, I started to apply pressure to the door to wrench it open. It took a couple of seconds for me to get a proper grip on the door without breaking it open. But once I had a proper grip on the door, it started to slide open in a smooth motion.

Just as I peered down the hallway while holding the door open, did the lights suddenly flicker and go out. A loud whirring noise sounded in the walls, which slowly tapered off into silence. For a while, the entire hallway that I had been looking down went completely dark, before dull red lights started to come on.

Probably that old backup generator that I convinced my boss to keep in case of an emergency failure. Which I was very grateful for at this time because if it hadn't been here, the life support and oxygen system would probably have gone to hell as well.

I could even let go of the elevator without it trying to close in on me, and I gently pushed them open to their full capacity.

"Looks like Jfred managed to get his job done after all"


	43. (43) The final countdown

Matthias's P.O.V.:

"You two ready?" I asked my two Alpha companions, seeing them turn to me in their odd fitting guard uniforms.

Bryan tried to fiddle with the shoulder pads on his, it obviously not built for his broader frame. While Ally had to get help with tucking her abundant amount of blonde hair into her helmet, to ensure no small bits of hair would stick out from the bottom. Once Ally's helmet was clicked into place, she gave me a thumbs up that she was ready. Bryan clicked his helmet on next, and did the same as she had done.

I nodded my head to him, moving my helmet on top of my head as well. I got my ears caught for a second, and I could hear both Ally and Bryan laugh at me. Their laughter was a little bit muffled due to their helmets, but I still grumbled and told them off.

"Hush! Guards aren't supposed to laugh at their allies mistakes" I grumbled to them, finally getting the helmet into place. It felt a little claustrophobic, even when the display flickered to life before my eyes.

"Yeah, they aren't supposed to" Bryan chuckled, his helmet muffling the majority of his laugh. It came out a little more robotic due to the voice modulator, which made it obvious that his was working. "But if I got a dollar for everytime I noticed our guards doing that, I would be able to buy this entire space station four times over"

"We need to get going" Ally reminded us, her voice coming out deep and gravely due to her changing her voice through the modulator. "If we take too long, there is a chance that Jfred might have been taken away before we can reach him"

"Have we got everything stored away?" I asked the others, patting my own pockets. "It's a shame we couldn't get some scent bottles to cover up our own scents in this vault, but do we have everything else?"

"Getting scent bottles wouldn't work around people with good noses" Ally commented, digging around in the suits pockets to show a small bottle of black pills. Suppressants, due to the fact we would no doubt need them on the planet once our heats rolled around. "We'd probably stand out even more than with our natural scents"

"Unless our boss decides to come and get Jfred personally" Bryan said, a hint of worry showing itself in his voice.

Like Ally, he had something hidden away in the pockets of his suit. I had told him to grab a Oz kit (A small little device that allows people to breath oxygen in space or a place that lacks oxygen for a limited time), because some niggling part of was worried that we might need to use it for Jfred. Our suits could provide us with oxygen protection, but Jfred wouldn't be in a suit when we went to go and collect him.

"If he's the one that collects Jfred from the security, then..." I said, trying to rack my brain for another idea. I didn't tell the both of them about the thing I had smuggled into my suit, right below my neck. That was a last resort after all. "Then I'll come up with some other idea on the fly"

"We need to come up with a plan before that ends up happening" Ally said, moving towards the elevator. She ended up pushing them apart from each other like before, looking down at the level we needed to be on. "We need to get down there before this elevator comes back up"

"I'll come up with a plan right now" I sighed, shaking my head at all the failed plans that I had decided in my mind. "You guys form up the plan to get down back to the main level for the Hub of heroism"

Bryan and Ally quickly got to work, starting to grab some long wire that had been left behind by the construction people in the vault nearby. I could hear the both of them tell each other why they needed to go down the slow way. Something about how the suits likely couldn't take going down ten levels without breaking horribly.

Not to mention I would probably break along with my suit if they failed to catch me. That wasn't a though I really was too keen on thinking about. My mind was already too busy with trying to find out alternatives for what might happen.

About what would happen if our boss got to Jfred before we could 'escort' him away from danger. We had agreed with Jfred that he would allow himself to be captured, and we were all banking on the fact that the guards would be too afraid to transport him to the jail cells.

I had come up with the plan on the fly, and I was heavily regretting it now. So many things could go wrong with this one, and I had blissfully ignored the danger I had placed my younger brother in because I was scared out of my wits.

First of all, our boss might have simply decided to send all the guards after him once he split from us. Furthermore, it wasn't even guaranteed that he was going to take Jfred alive. If our boss had even half the rationality he usually had nowadays, he would have taken care of Jfred within minutes instead of doggedly chasing after the three of us.

As luck would have it, our boss was so worried about potentially losing Ally that he disregarded anything else in front of him. Which is why I had originally planned for Jfred to be the one to go.

If I had gone on my own, he might have gotten a bit suspicious about why I of all people split up from the group. I was the brains of our group after all.

I mean, Ally had come up with plans in the past, but she didn't really seem to deal well with the pressure that came with leading a group.

I couldn't send Ally, due to her being immediately singled out. I'm quite certain our boss would have just given up on trying to capture us.

He was obsessed with her, we could see that from miles away. Bryan had always voiced his fatherly concern about how he acted around her.

And of course, Bryan would still take a lot more attention than Jfred in his eyes.

He saw Bryan as some sort of threat to Ally for some weird reason. Even going so far as to ask me what Bryan and Ally did together on our routine missions. I think the fact I told him that Bryan was not into Ally just made him more suspicious. He didn't believe me in the slightest, even seeming like he got more suspicious about Bryan because I had said that.

Telling him that Bryan was married was out of the question, due to the three of us wanting to keep our families as secret as we could. Not to mention, that might not have really changed his opinion in the slightest. Our boss had been married at least twice already and all three of us brothers were convinced that he was interested in Ally after our years of working with him, and I don't mean in the friendly interested.

How she couldn't see that was a little mind boggling. Maybe she did know, and was just trying to willfully ignore it for years on end.

But anyway, long story short. I knew I had to send Jfred for our plan to even have a remote chance of working.

And despite everything, I knew that my plan was on thin ice. Even before I had that worry that Jfred hadn't gotten his job done.

Everything that had gone right so far was down to luck. I could have gotten my brother killed from a split second decision! I can't even think straight! I can't!

I found panic setting heavily in my mind, my mind unhelpfully conjuring up various ways that my brother could be dead. How he could still die, how the life would leave his eyes. How the last emotion would be one of longing. Waiting and hoping for us to save him. And we probably wouldn't be there.

I started to shake, trying to readjust my glasses that seemed to have slipped down in my scrambled movements. Of course, in my panic I had forgotten that I was wearing a helmet, my newly armoured hand banging into my helmet and messing slightly with the display. It fixed itself quickly, but it all seemed to come across as gibberish in my mind.

Short raspy breaths started to happen, and for a moment I was wondering why my suit was feeling so heavy and hot. I scrambled my hands up to my helmet in a panicked state, trying to remove the blasted thing. I felt like I couldn't breath inside this thing!

"Matthias!" Ally shouted loudly to me, slapping both of her gloved hands around my helmet, about where my ears were. I could spy the display flicker and wobble with the slap, soon fixing itself to look normal.

My freaked out mind soon started to freak out about the fact I couldn't see Ally, until a small part of my rational brain reminded me that she was in a suit just like mine. I looked closer at the display, seeing a helmet belonging to someone around my height.

Yup, that had to be Ally, another rational part of my brain seemed to chip in. If it was Bryan, it would be someone taller than me looking down at me.

"Are you alright in there?" Ally asked me, trying to tilt her head in the helmet she was wearing. "You wouldn't respond to any of my questions, and then you started to grab around your helmet in a frenzy"

I listened to her speak, the way she seemed to speak seemed to calm me down. I started to try and slow my breathing, trying to regain my mind.

"I-I'm sorry..." I said softly, trying to speak up before the both of them got even more worried. "I just couldn't seem to think straight and I panicked..."

"...Alright" Ally said softly, patting me on the shoulders. It probably was the best she could do in these suits, a real hug would not have come across right with the banging bits of metal and uncomfortable joints. "I'll come up with the plans, you just focus on getting down this wire"

"But you hate leading a group" I said, protesting a little.

"I would prefer not to, certainly" Ally said, sighing softly as she tried to cross her arms over her own chest. It ended up making a lot of clinking noises and altogether looked messy, so she gave up on that too. "But I'd prefer me taking the lead than you freaking out"

"Sorry..."

"No, don't worry about it" Ally said, shrugging her shoulders. She turned to Bryan, seemingly to tell him to down the wire first. "Let's go, I have a plan in semi coherent plan in mind"

"Better than what I have" Bryan laughed slightly, beginning to slide down the wire smoothly.

"Come on Matthias, we need you at your best"

"I know, I know"

* * *

The trip down the wire ended up being wholly uneventful, minus Ally jumping the last couple of feet into Bryan's arms. She had told us she didn't want to waste any time in getting to Jfred, and her actions showed that in every fast paced movement.

Every single action of hers seemed to scream a nervous feeling, but she seemed to be doing a much better job at keeping herself under control. Way better than me just now.

While she led the way through the endless corridors of the level we were on, I tried to work my brain for another plan in case our boss had already got to Jfred. Without freaking out, hopefully.

The only main plan I could seem to think of in my head, was to leave Jfred behind.

But that would be the death of me. I would never be able to forgive myself if I got Jfred involved in this mess and then left him behind when we couldn't afford to help him.

I have killed people, to keep these three people safe. I could even remember vividly how I had killed that one scientist.

She had spread a sort of poisonous gas into the air, and I had promised to let her go if she had given my three Alpha friends the antidote.

She did give them it.

I shot her in the back the moment she turned around to collect her things and leave.

I didn't really think there was any other choice to make. They were likely going to just find some other planet to take out their anger against Alpha.

But now, every time someone offered to let me go in return for something, I would remember that time in my mind. Honestly, my stubborn refusal to help them had actually kept me alive each time.

To make it this far with my brothers, and with Ally as well, I had killed a number of people to keep them safe. And for what? For us to possibly perish in this space station?

"You got a plan in mind?" Bryan asked me, elbowing me out of my own mind. "I can almost hear the cogs spinning in that mind of yours"

"Not really" I sighed, shaking my head. I looked over Ally's shoulder, seeing a whole slew of guards ahead of us. "I mean, we might be able to start a fire on another level to draw the attention of our boss, but there's a chance he just might ignore it completely"

"Not to mention we would have to send someone on their own to do that job as well" Ally said, sighing a moment after me. "And then we would be stuck with another regrouping situation"

The rest of us fell silent the moment we walked near the mass amount of guards, peering through them all to see if they were surrounding the person we were looking for.

Sure enough, Jfred was standing in the middle of the group. Nobody seemed to actually be in the process of putting cuffs on him however.

Whatever the case, I was relieved to see him breathing and in one piece.

"What the hell are you all waiting for?" Jfred shouted out to the lot of them, frowning and angrily stamping one of his feet in annoyance. He must have been stomping his foot for a long time, a large indent below his right foot in a wide perimeter. "I said; I GIVE UP!"

Each of the guards either squealed in fright (Despite all of them being male) or proceeded to take a step away from Jfred. I guess his reputation of beating up people easily still roamed free among the guards.

Luckily for us, the guards had stepped enough back that the three of us could easily slip past them all without having to barge. Ally barged up to him, motioning for me to put the cuffs on him that I had.

"Come with us" I said, trying to act like some kind of old and hardened guard. I grabbed his wrist, and tried to smoothly slip on the cuffs without any sort of complication. "Before we have to-

 **"Get your hands off me"** Jfred growled, snapping his wrist out of my gloved hand.

It made sense for him to do that. He didn't know a hundred percent that it was us after all.

Not to mention, some people would get suspicious if he just willingly went along with just about any guard. So in every sense of the word, it did make sense for him to not trust the first guard that actually came to get him.

But the way my wrist stung, the way I could feel all the nerves scream in pain at me. If I hadn't have held his wrist in that particular way, he might have broken my hand with a mere flick of the wrist.

That, accompanied with the fact I had already been worried about him, made my blood boil.

 **"Shut the fuck up"** I growled at him, despite my growl being a lot less powerful than the one he had made. **"I don't plan to wait for the next century for you to be ready"**

That last phrase in my growl seemed to click something in his mind, our common phrase when referring to each other in the past. I could spy his lips nearly twist into his usual cheeky smirk, but he managed to get rid of it a mere second later.

I flung the shock cuffs onto him, not particularly caring if it shocked him with the rough way I was doing it. It would probably make it more believable if I did it that way.

Once Jfred was securely in the cuffs, I grabbed one of his wrists and started to lead him in one particular way. Ally and Bryan both slotted into place behind Jfred, forming the triangle defense that most guards used when escorting prisoners.

I could spy Ally's nervous movements had diminished slightly, but you could spy one or two little bits that gave away her nervous feelings. Trying to play with her hair, but her glove banging into her helmet instead.

I tried to let out the sigh I had been holding, feeling almost secure.

Of course, when we turned down a hallway to head to the escape pods, did we all have another reason to hold our breaths.

Our boss was just down the hallway, looking at the pried open elevator door that we had come through.

"Stay calm" Ally whispered to the lot of us. "We need to keep walking like nothing is wrong"

"Even though we have Jfred right here?!" I asked, my fear showing through my voice modulator.

"Especially because we have Jfred right here" She replied, soon falling silent once we got within hearing range of her boss.

"Hey! You two!" My boss shouted at two other guards that walked near him. "Is there a particular reason why this door is open?!"

"Err...no sir"

"Then close it!" He snapped at the both of them, seeing them hurry to close the door. He rubbed his chin in thought, obviously thinking hard about the reason for why the door had been wide open. "Some stupid idiot might fall in and kill themselves if we don't close it"

His metallic face seemed to make the loudest and most eerie noises, his gloves scraping against the rough material.

I could feel my heartbeat speed up when he glanced over to the four of us. His eyes flashed with rage once he laid eyes on Jfred, his metallic lips twisting into a tooth filled snarl.

It was almost as though his scent seemed to scream an intense rage towards Jfred.

"Make sure, that the three of you don't lay a finger on that despicable creature" He seemed to snarl at us, pointing one single gloved finger at Jfred. **"I'm going to break him myself"**

Me, along with Bryan and Ally, didn't bother to say anything to him. We just nodded our heads, and hoped that was all he needed and wanted from us.

If we were lucky, he wouldn't even notice that we had gone down to Pandora in the escape pods until the base was back up and running. Which hopefully would be in a couple of days.

Just as our boss passed us, probably to check out the damage to the electric power core. A single noise brought us even more dread that seeing him.

An audible sniffing noise.

"Hey! Hold it!"

We all stopped dead in our tracks, waiting to see if he was speaking to us.

"You! The one leading your group!" Our boss said, coming closer to us. "Take your helmet off for me!"

He didn't ask for Ally to take off her helmet, so she had to have hidden her scent well enough from him. Bryan's scent was stronger than mine, but I guess my sharp scent caused it to stand out more.

Just what I was planning for. That last thing I grabbed from the vault, I just hope his mask isn't able to detect it.

I slid the mask off, hearing a small beeping noise right on my neck. The hologuise (Short for holographic disguise) flared into life, making my face appear completely foreign to my boss.

His eyes seemed to go over every aspect of my new disguised face, his angry face soon turning to one of confusion. His mask's eyes didn't light up into a inspection mode for some reason, but I was grateful for it.

"No... Never mind" He said, waving me off with a now disinterested hand. "I thought you smelled like one of my other employees"

"Would you like me to change my scent sir?" I asked, further cementing home that I wasn't the person he was looking for.

"No, just get out of my sight" He grumbled, running off to the power core a couple of corridors down. I slipped my helmet back onto my head, thanking whatever deity existed for the chance they had given us.

We didn't waste any time, running down the corridor once he was out of sight. We all immediately stopped at the first escape pod, and I got to work on the console next to it.

"What's the plan now?" Jfred asked, looking miffed at his shock cuffs. "The pods aren't really built for more than one at a time"

"Ally should go in the first one" Bryan immediately said, looking proudly as the pod doors open smoothly. "After all, she needs to get out of here first"

"We should go two at a time" Ally said, clambering into the pod kind of awkwardly to make more space for another person. "That way, we won't-

The pod doors suddenly slammed shut, cutting off Ally's voice.

My eyes instantly shot over to the display I had been tinkering with, it having a big red X symbol in the middle of the display.

"He knows" I said simply, seeing Bryan scramble to try and open the pod doors. He was failing quite spectacularly, due to the fact he couldn't get a proper grip on the doors.

"He knows?!" Bryan asked me, looking horrified at the shut doors in front of him. "How the hell does he know?!"

"I don't know! He must have rewritten some kind of emergency power in the core to the pod doors!" I said, looking around the pod doors for something. "There! Tear that panel off for me!"

"And, uh-Could you also please get me out of these cuffs?!" Jfred asked, holding up both of his wrists angrily.

Bryan did as I had asked first, before turning and breaking the shock cuffs off of Jfred. I got to work on the pod panel, tearing wires with my teeth and combining various bits of wires into each other. It wasn't long until I heard those words I was hoping to hear.

"Pod malfunction detected, launching faulty pod down to Pandora for disposal"

Yes! Just what I wanted to hear!

I could see Ally pound on the doors with her arms, looking very frightened and confused about everything that was going on.

"Ally! I don't know if you can hear me, but just focus on getting down to Pandora! We'll find you!" I yelled out to her, hearing the sirens blaring all around us that the pod was launching. I don't know if it came down to the fact she could read my lips, or hear snippets of what I said, but she seemed to relax a great deal. She grinned at me, flashing me a thumbs up before her pod was in the final stages of launching. "Bryan! Get that Oz kit on Jfred!"

"You got it!" Bryan said, fixing the Oz kit to the back of Jfred's head just in time. Just as the pod launched, and we could feel the pull of space try to tear us out of the building. "Should I shut the doors?!"

"No, we're going out there!" I shouted to them, trying to be heard over the loud rush of air and space. They followed my view, seeing an entire clump of debris not too far away from where we were. "We are going to find one of the derelict pods out there and get down to Pandora that way!"

"Are you kidding me?!" Jfred yelled, now being able to clearly speak and explain his point of view with the Oz kit providing him support to breath. "The main guns from the station will tear us to shreds before we can fix it!"

"No it won't, those don't work!" I said, pointing off to the power core room. "You broke it, remember?!"

"Those pods aren't built for three!" Bryan said, looking like he was hoping I would be able to come up with a proper reason for that one too.

"Well, you got me kinda with that one!" I said, seeing their faces fall with that admission. "But it's a better plan than trying to mess with all of these ones before the guard shows up!"

"Ugh, I hate it when you're right!" Jfred grumbled.

"Let's go! We're wasting time!" I said, finally letting go of the ledge I had been holding onto to let me float out into space.

"Right behind you!"

"Let's do this! Wahoo!"

(Alternate ending, where they all die trying that pod. No, not really, but it sounded funny to me for a moment XD)

(Apologies to RioRayArcade, who is so patiently waiting for her OC to show up. These flashback chapters took a lot longer than I thought they would)


	44. (44) Freaking out

Dan's P.O.V.: (First of all, yay! Those endless flashback chapters aren't getting in the way of the main plot! YEAH! Second of all, someone help me, I'm dying due to how cute both of these men are. Third of all, that feel when a twenty six year old and thirty year old are called cute more than you ;-; Fourth of all, (Can anyone tell I am really sugar high right now? XD) that feel when you tell your mother about how old one of your youtubers is, and her response is "Who cares, he probably doesn't even know you exist" Ow, my feelings) (Also, the more Jack talks, the more difficult it is for me. The amount of H's and You's I have to change when he speaks is so tiring sometimes D:)

The truck was usually very noisy right about now. Lots of people trying to talk at once, possibly about something noisy they had heard outside or the exciting events of the day.

But frankly, people probably didn't want to talk about the things that would be labeled as exciting today. They probably wouldn't even have labeled it as exciting. Dangerous and frightening would be the first things in my mind, for starters.

I didn't have to patrol the truck like yesterday, checking up on Chris and our split up group all around the truck. No, everyone was all huddled in their respective groups, desiring the small feeling of safety that came with the people you knew.

Arin along with Ross and Barry had taken the driving and main cabin into their possession, which left Suzy and Jon in the back. Suzy was trying her best to calm down Jon by playing a card game with the Skittish Alpha. In my personal opinion, from observing them for a couple of minutes, Suzy seemed to get irritated quicker at losing than Jon did. Something told me the card game was probably more to help Suzy calm down than Jon.

Danny and Ninja Brian had split from that small group of allies, instead sitting in silence in one of the corners closest to the truck doors. Danny was looking down at his lap, seemingly cleaning and preparing a small handgun in his lap. Ninja Brian, despite his usual ability to disappear when things didn't suit him, seemed to be sharpening a small dagger with a stone he had found. Where he had found either of those, I didn't really care.

And then there was us, sitting against one side of the truck wall.

Mark was having a small discussion with Jack, talking about the gun that Mark held in his hands.

"Are ye sure Mark?" Jack asked him, looking apprehensively at Mark who was trying to hand him the gun. "I mean... I know I am slightly better at aiming the darn thing, but ya know that I 'ave a difficult time to lift it"

"You can at least possibly shoot someone in the foot?" Mark said while shrugging his shoulders, looking a bit confused himself for his strange explanation. "I might be able to lift it without struggling, but it won't do any good if I just waste the one ammo shot over their shoulder"

"Ugh, I know" Jack said, reluctantly taking the gun from Mark. You could instantly see Jack struggle to not have it immediately sink to the floor. "I wonder if I should just 'and this to Ally the moment fighting starts to 'appen"

"No!" I suddenly burst out, seeing the both of them instantly move their eyes to me in confusion. "I don't think she needs any further stress on her mind, and us being without a weapon makes things harder for her"

"Ah, of course..." Jack said, looking a little sheepish for his thought from earlier. "I can see that point of view, my bad"

"No, I'm sorry" I said, letting out a deep sigh. "I lost my head due to what happened earlier today"

"Because of her breakdown? Yeah, I can see that" Mark said, nodding his head in agreement. The more his mind seemed to think about it, the more his mind seemed to head down one particular path. A sort of, suspicious and somewhat jealous one. "I don't think I have ever seen you so caring about a female before"

My eyes narrowed as I looked at him, my mind becoming quite defensive due to the way he had worded it. If he had even tried to pass it off as a joke, it might have slipped by the others. Maybe even slipped by me, if it wasn't for that possessive thought he had when Ally had shown up with her old coworkers.

"Speaking of things I have never heard before, I don't think I have ever heard you say something like that to one of us" Tyler said, looking a little concerned over at Mark. "Is everything alright?"

"It's fine... I just..." Mark said, trailing off when he couldn't find a reason to explain his actions. But he soon found one reason to bullshit, despite it making no sense. "My mind and emotions are just a jumble after hearing that radio message"

"Do you-Do you want us to leave?" Lissa asked us boys, using her pointing finger to gesture to herself, Kyanna, Jade and Joy. "Cause this sounds like something that we shouldn't interrupt in"

"No, it's fine" Mark said, shrugging his shoulders. "It was just a stupid thing I said, and I admit that"

I allowed the conversation to end between us, but I filed I think under a mental thing to keep in mind. Even if this was nothing, just some silly emotions, I was getting a little worried with how frequent it was happening.

I didn't want to say it, but he was beginning to act possessive and controlling. Like... Like Bossanova had been to him.

But I didn't have enough to really be certain. Just one thought around Ally's old bosses and now a comment to me.

I shook my head, trying to get that thought out of my mind. With nothing else to do, I started to look around at the others and their little associations.

Once Jack had a proper hold on his gun, Jade seemed to be really interested in the weapon. She started to ask questions about it, and they seemed to start talking about their respective weapons.

Kyanna, despite everything, seemed to be deep in sleep. She snored softly, her head positioned on PJ's lap like it was a pillow. Now and then, when someone would raise their voice too loud, PJ would gently ask them to speak softer.

Lissa seemed to have retreated into herself, curling into a little ball to one side of the group, only occasionally speaking up. Phil sat beside her, saying silly jokes and talking about literally anything that popped into his mind. He's good at that, being able to talk about everything and nothing. And once again I could see it had worked its magic, a small smile on Lissa's face every now and again.

Joy had at first sat off on her own, obviously not really feeling like she really belonged to the group. It was only when Chris had invited her to the group, that she had asked if it was alright. Chris, being the slightly flippant person he is, simply responded with a phrase about how he wouldn't have asked if he didn't mean it. Joy looked like she had wanted to explain that she was asking the rest of us, but instead decided to hold her tongue instead of starting an argument. She seemed content, being able to sit next to him.

Tyler, Troye and Connor had started a game of twenty questions, them all mostly being about us for some reason.

"Does he have an unnatural hair colour in his hair?" Connor asked, looking over to Tyler.

"Nope, natural hair" Tyler said, shaking his head before looking over to Troye. "Your turn Troye"

"Is it a person you have a crush on?" Troye asked cheekily, a grin on his face.

"Hush!" Tyler giggled, shoving Troye which caused the three of them to start in a bit of giggle fit.

"Guys, lower the volume please?"

"Sorry PJ"

"It's fine"

The three of them returned to their game, albeit a bit more quiet.

With all my possible points of interest exhausted, I found myself looking at the roof. Where Ally and her old trio were now.

I had wanted to hold her until the ends of the earth, but we needed to get going at the time. That old friend of hers, Bryan, had assured me he would do the best he could to take care of her. I had no doubts that he could, but I suppose some stupid part of me just was a little bit selfish that time. To keep holding onto her, that was my desire at the time.

I let out another long sigh, trying to think about something else.

But what else was there to think about, but that radio call. Oh, how strange and terrifying it had been for us to hear some random person go on about bombing the area you were in. But it was nothing compared to the message he had left for her.

'I'm just letting you know that I'm coming to get you' and 'See you soon'.

Both of those words seemed to spin around in my head, trying to see how I could find something deeper in them. The only thing I seemed to understand, was that they knew each other. But I already knew that, so it was nothing new I had found out.

She already knew about someone, who clearly seemed obsessed with her.

With this, came another burning question in my mind. And without meaning to, I had said it aloud for everyone in our clustered group to hear.

"Did anyone see this coming?"

Everyone in our group stopped what it was that they were doing, some looking over to me with confused looks. Even Danny and Ninja Brian seemed to have heard me, their eyes and ears tuned into our conversations from that point on.

"I'm sorry, but I must not be on your wavelength" Chris began, his eyebrows scrunching together. "In other words, you're going to have to be more specific"

"Same here" Connor said, agreeing with Chris wholeheartedly. "That question could lead to a lot of different meanings"

"Well, did anyone get any sort of hint from Ally that she was on the run from someone obsessed with her?" I explained, feeling hopeless on the matter. I certainly hadn't noticed anything, and it sort of made me feel like I was unobservant. Or that she told everyone but me. "Like, something that seemed to annoy her without any reason?"

Nobody said anything, the majority all looking down at their feet or at the roof in thought. The girls sitting in our group all shrugged their shoulders, due to them not being around Ally long enough to really be able to pinpoint something that was out of the ordinary. They might not even know what was considered normal for her.

Heck, maybe we didn't even really know what was normal. For all we knew, the confident headstrong girl we knew all this time was just a barrier she had put up to seem tough. Alpha do often have this tendency to feel stronger than anyone else.

"I'm really sorry, but I don't think I noticed anything" Tyler said, looking a little bit sad for his lack on contribution.

"Me neither" Troye said shrugging his shoulders. "Unless you consider her disliking Bossanova a thing"

"I think anyone would dislike Bossanova, so I don't think that one counts" Jack commented idly, looking a little bit apprehensive about something. What he was apprehensive about, I'm not too sure. He was very good at not thinking about what it was he was nervous about.

"Who's Bossanova?" Jade asked, looking between us all for a potential answer. "And I remember Ally mentioning she hated bandits just like I did, does that help?"

"Some asshole, 'e's not important" Jack brushed off the former bandit boss, not really delving into details. He looked a bit nervous with the comment from Jade about bandits, but soon shrugged it off. "And the bandit 'ating thing seems normal out 'ere on Pandora"

"I'm at a loss for anything myself" Connor sighed, looking just as confused as I felt on the situation. "How about you PJ?"

"Uhh..." PJ softly mumbled to himself, still trying not to wake the girl in his lap. "No, don't think so"

"Mark?" I asked, turning my eyes to him. His eyes seemed to radiate a hurt feeling, and I suddenly felt a surge of elation. Maybe we had something? "Did you notice anything?"

"No..." He said softly to himself, letting out a long sigh. "If I had known, I probably would have bonded with her about mutual feelings about obsessed people"

Joy and Lissa raised an eyebrow at that, but both Phil and Chris gave a small wave of their hand to their respective talking partner that it was something not really to ask about. Jade looked a bit sadly at Mark, but decided not to say anything.

"...I think I might have something"

We turned out heads all to Chris, seeing him ponder over something in his head.

"It might just be nothing though" Chris said, shrugging his shoulders. Our inquisitive eyes seemed to spark him to sigh and tell us about it. "Back in Hollow point, Ally helped me out with my painting"

"Yes?" I asked, unsure how a painting could be something noteworthy to remember.

"Long story short, she threw me and caught me while I was creating a entire graffiti wall" Chris said, shrugging his shoulders at the mere idea of being thrown up by a women half his weight. "Everything was going fine, until I mentioned a single word"

"Which was?" Tyler probed, genuinely interested in the story.

"The nickname 'Princess'" Chris said, slowly saying out the word for us each to clearly remember. "She dropped me faster than a Skag toppling off a cliff, but it almost looked a bit like she had done it instinctively instead of on purpose"

"Did she think it was demeaning or something?" Asked Mark, still not seeing the connection.

"See, that's what I thought at the time as well" Chris said, shrugging his shoulders with a confused look. "But I just realised something recently, and only then did it really click for me"

Nobody really asked anything, not daring to speak in case they missed what Chris had figured out. Luckily for us, he didn't seem to need anymore probing to finish his long explanation.

"That guy, on the radio just now" Chris explained slowly once more, looking between each of us to make sure we were listening. "He called her Princess"

That, was certainly something. We all could see that everyone agreed.

It was a minor detail, one that probably wouldn't have made sense until just now however.

In short, this entire thing came out of left field for everyone.

"Well, that's my thing" Chris said, sighing as he thought about it. "What about you Jack? You have been awfully quiet this entire time"

"Well, I didn't really notice things about an obsessed person" Jack said, moving his thumb to slightly bite on it. "But I think I know who it might be, or... at least know who she might 'ave worked fer in the past"

"She mentioned she had worked for a guy called Tassiter" Phil piped up, which got an immediate shake of the head from Jack.

"See, that's the thing" Jack said, looking very upset with his sudden conclusion. "She told me what company she 'ad worked fer"

"Which is?" Troye asked, almost looking a bit confused on how the specific company would change what she had told us.

"Hyperion"

I could spy Troye about to open his mouth in a retort to Jack's answer, but stopped the moment he heard the true answer. We all couldn't believe our ears.

"Hyperion?" I asked, my eyes full of confusion and disbelief. And possibly the beginning of tears.

"Hyperion" Jack confirmed.

"I can't believe it..." I said, my voices volume dropping down a considerable amount. "Did she mention if this was a long time ago?..."

"Her old coworkers mentioned they left their job about a month ago" Mark said, the reality of everything daunting on him just as much as everyone else. As much as me. He slammed his fist angrily into the bed of the truck in anger, scaring a number of people that sat near him. "Goddamit! I knew I didn't trust those assholes!"

Kyanna slightly stirred in her sleep, probably from both the banging and the shouting from Mark. PJ hurriedly covered her ears while hushing Mark angrily. It didn't take long for to fall asleep soon afterwards.

"If you are so certain that you hate those three" Lissa pointed out to him, picking her words carefully. "Then surely you feel the same about her?"

Mark paused in his still anger filled state, looking very conflicted inside. Part of him no doubt wanted to hate her just as much as he did those three, but his heart was making it hard to do so.

"When did she tell you this?" Tyler asked softly, suddenly finding the need to remove his glasses. When someone was about to ask him what was wrong, did they notice the tears beginning to well up in his eyes. He probably felt that Ally really trusted him, and to hear that she kept something like this from him would no doubt hurt him deeply.

I knew the feeling all too well. I had thought she trusted me too, but Jack already knew leagues more than I did.

"She told me on the second day she stayed at our motel" Jack said, having difficulty looking people in the eyes.

You have got to be fucking kidding me. She told him on the second day of knowing him, while the rest of us didn't even know after nearly two weeks.

" 'ey, if it 'elps, I probably wouldn't 'ave been told if I didn't specifically ask 'er what company she worked fer"

"Shut the fuck up Jack" I snarled, not in the mood for his 'If it helps' conversations.

Jack didn't appreciate being told that, his own teeth bared in an angry snarl back at me.

"No! Don't ye fucking go and blame me fer this!" Jack snarled at me, angrily pointing at me to make sure I knew that he was talking to me. I felt you could even call this talking. "And don't ye go and blame 'er for this either!"

"Well why the fuck not?! She held something like this from us for so long!" I snarled back at him, which seemed to ignite the anger in his eyes even further.

"BECAUSE ALL OF YE 'ERE WOULD 'AVE 'ATED 'ER FROM THE MOMENT SHE SAID THAT TO THE LOT OF YE!" Jack yelled, suddenly drawing the attention of Jon and Suzy to our fight. " 'ELL! SHE COULD HAVE SIMPLY MENTIONED THAT SHE USES ONE OF THEIR GUNS AND YE ALL WOULD 'AVE KICKED 'ER OUT ONTO THE STREETS, IN 'EAT, FASTER THAN YE COULD SAY 'GO FUCK YERSELF'!"

"I-I mean-

"SHE WAS ALREADY 'ATED BY THE LOT OF YE BECAUSE SHE WAS AN ALPHA, WHAT DID YE FUCKING EXPECT 'ER TO DO?!" Jack seemed to shout from the top of his lungs, and all I could think of was how I had never seen Jack lose his temper like this. If I thought he was loud when he normally talked, then this was standing next to a loud speaker the size of a moon. "OH 'EY THERE, I WORKED FER HYPERION, ITS FUCKING LOVELY TO MEET YOU!"

"I-I guess, but why didn't she mention it afterwards-

"PROBABLY CAUSE SHE WAS TOO BUSY TRYING TO SAVE OUR ASSES TWENTY FOUR SEVEN!" He seethed, his head turning redder by the minute, and I couldn't tell I felt it was from the lack of oxygen or because he was so mad at us. " 'EY PAL, I KNOW I'M BUSY SAVING YOUR KIDNAPPED ASS FOR THE SECOND TIME NOW, BUT DID YOU KNOW I WORKED FER HYPERION BEFORE?! SUPER IMPORTANT WHILE I'M TRYING TO SAVE YOUR LIFE!"

"She wasn't the one who freed us the second time-

"WHO GIVES A FLYING SHIT! WE LITERALLY 'AVE SO MANY FORMER BANDITS IN OUR GROUP, INCLUDING ME, IT'S NOT FUNNY! SO WHY ARE YE FINE WITH THEM, BUT SUDDENLY GET SO ANGRY AT A EIGHTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL WHO 'APPENED TO WORK FER A COMPANY THAT EVERYONE 'ATES!"

 **"Stop fighting!"**

Jack's voice suddenly seemed to lose all power, and I turned my head over to Tyler who seemed busy trying to control his power of suggestion over Jack. Jack still seemed like he wanted to shout more, but his mouth literally wouldn't open for him. Jack started to move his hands to try and pry his mouth open, and that was when Tyler finally managed to speak calmly to him.

"Please, fighting amongst ourselves won't do anything" Tyler said, seeing his power lose hold the moment he spoke. Despite Jack possibly having the ability to start shouting again, he didn't, instead fixing himself to look miffed at Tyler. "I understand your point of view, I really do, you clearly got your point across to everyone here, so please sit down and let us calm down and sort this out"

Jack took a deep breath in, letting it out while running a tired hand through his green hair. He nodded his head at Tyler, before sitting back down between Jade and Mark.

The peace couldn't last however, Jade looking at him with wide hurt eyes.

"You were a bandit?..."

"I-...Yes, I was..." Jack sighed, hiding his red face in his hands. "It was the worst mistake of my life, and one I am always going to regret"

Jade didn't say anything more, refusing to look at Jack in any way. She shuffled herself a little bit away from him, suddenly looking very lost on what she was going to do now.

"So, I have a question" Troye said, suddenly seeing the warning look that Tyler was giving him. "No, I'm not asking for a fight Tyler! I just wanted to ask Jack about something he mentioned earlier"

"When he was shouting?" Connor asked, almost sarcastically.

"No, before that" Troye said, looking around for approval the moment he said that. Once he got a couple of nods, one mainly from Tyler, did he continue to speak. "So how did knowing about Hyperion make it obvious to you that Tassiter was not her boss?"

"Because I remember a rumour that floated around when a particular person became the 'ead of Hyperion" Jack said, removing his head from his hands and sighing once more. "That the new 'ead of Hyperion 'ad killed the former 'ead, whose name was Tassiter"

A couple of people nodded their head, affirming that they too had heard the rumour. But that left one last question in my mind.

"So, then who is her boss? The one she is running from?" I asked, finally getting the courage to speak up after getting chewed up by Jack.

"See, I think I know that one too" Jack said, looking a bit calmer now that we were all talking about something else. "Just like Chris 'ad noticed, she 'ad reacted to a name, a slight twitch in the eye to someone who 'ad introduced themselves to 'er"

"Who?" I asked, dying to know the name.

"Mine" Jack said, letting us figure it out slowly on our own. "She reacted to my nickname, Jack"

Jack. She had reacted to the name Jack.

A Jack that usually calls people demeaning nicknames.

A Jack that works for Hyperion.

A Jack that was now possibly the head, due to Tassiter no longer being there.

Oh God. I had it figured out, like a sudden snapping finger in my head.

"Her boss is Handsome Jack"


	45. (45) Crash and burn

Dan's P.O.V.:

After those shocked words left my lips, did our entire life seem to flip itself upside down. Quite literally at one moment, not a figure of speech in the slightest.

At first, it was a simple shout from Arin. Something that might have slipped past our somewhat panic stricken ears in any other situation.

"Shit!"

Moments after we heard that, the truck swerved violently as though Arin had tried to avoid something in his path. Anyone in the truck who had been leaning against the wall got a nasty knock to their backs and head, many of them complaining loudly a moment later.

"What the hell just happened?!" Mark shouted up to the drivers cabin, holding his sore head in his hands. When no reply came quickly enough, she shouted once more over the loud groaning and complaining. "Arin?!"

"You guys better hold onto something!" Arin shouted back, which annoyed a number of us with the vague answer.

For one, it annoyed Mark with the fact he didn't really end up getting an answer to his question. Kind of ironic, as he had done the same sort of thing to us back when we were in that death rally back in Hollow Point.

For me, it was the simple stupid response that had annoyed me. What on earth did he expect us to hold onto?! The lot of us were in the back of a moving truck with literally nothing to grab onto except for each other!

Now that I reflected on it, I probably should have prepared myself for another violent swerve instead of internally complaining about the wrong use of words.

However, this swerve proved to be a little too strong in one direction, and we could all feel the large metal container we sat in start to swing violently back and forth. And then finally start to tip over a moment after the third wide swing.

I could spy numerous people do different things as the truck tipped over, but my brain seemed to be able to register them all in slow motion. I hadn't even activated my power to slow down time, but everything seemed to move like I had.

PJ had immediately tried to wake up the girl asleep in his lap, but the best she had managed to do was open her eyes groggily. Once the truck had started to tip, he quickly found himself cradling the girls head in his chest to try and keep her safe.

Jack, had a different attitude towards the situation. When the truck started to tip, he at first tried to position himself on the floor of the truck in such a way that he wouldn't get damaged. But somehow some sort of instinct of his had done something different entirely. Jade, who still sat somewhat nearby to him, seemed to head towards the wall of the truck in a fast pace. If Jack hadn't stuck his hand there to catch her head, she no doubt would have also gotten her head smashed into the wall like people had already.

Lissa, who had gotten her head smacked into the wall already one time, had Phil to help her out instead. Phil stuck his entire left arm around her shoulders and made an effective wall as he tried to cradle the smaller girl in his chest.

Chris had tried to move himself to help Joy, but it soon turned out that she was just a bit faster than he was in his actions. It turns out that Joy protected him instead of Chris doing so, cradling his head into her shoulder just as the truck crashed.

Ally's P.O.V.: (Just before the crash happened)

As Matthias continued to recount the events of how they had managed to escape Helios, I found myself looking up at the large space station.

I suppose the three of them might have taken offense with the fact I wasn't really listening to what town they had landed in at the time. Eh, I'm sure they'll forgive me.

Due to the large expanse of Pandora, not to mention that Elpis (The moon that Helios is stationed on) is quite close by, I could see the large station without too much strain. That large eye like structure in the middle of it all probably was tracking the four of us right now, with Handsome Jack probably looking down at us. Maybe even at this very moment.

Jack... my boss...

It hurt me a little bit inside every time I had called Jack's name. The green Irish companion I had made down here, not my boss.

I should hate that name. I should hate anyone who acted like him, like Danny.

So then why did I feel so conflicted on running away from Handsome Jack? No matter how hard I tried, five years of working with him would argue with the rational side of my brain.

Hate and a feeling of wanting him to become good once again.

With all my conflicted feelings, I felt the urge to flip the bird at the large space station. With my luck, maybe Handsome Jack had seen it himself.

Wait a moment, what was that flash of light? Was it coming from the space station's eye?

...

It was.

...

Oh god no!

"And so, after a long trek from The Arid Badlands, we ended up getting to- Hey! Are you even listening to me?!" Matthias suddenly shouted into my ear, which brought me out of my somewhat surprised stupor.

"Not really!" I replied simply to him while crawling around him to the drivers cabin, to which he sharply inhaled. Probably to say some sort of retort to me, but now was certainly not the time for it. "Look into the sky you idiot! We've got missiles incoming!"

"Missiles?! Are you out of your mind?!" Matthias asked me, looking as though I just told him something impossible. While his two brothers had already turned their heads to look in the sky, Matthias seemed a little slow on the uptake. "The only place that would be able to launch missiles on us right now would probably be Helios! And that's very unlikely due to- Oh, there are missiles after all..."

As Bryan scrambled to fix together his broken apart rifle he had kept in his suit of armour, I banged furiously and quickly on the roof of the drivers cabin. I was even making a small dent with the amount of power I was using. Nobody seemed in a hurry to see what was wrong, so I decided to yell while I was at it.

"Arin! We have missiles incoming!" I yelled impatiently, still hoping to be able to solve the problem before it got too out of hand. The dent was getting deeper in the roof of the truck, and I was starting to get the impression they would only come out once I had torn the roof open.

It took them ages (In my opinion), to have Ross hang out of the window like we had done when we picked up Jade.

"Sorry, we couldn't hear what you said" Ross said, looking genuinely confused on what I had shouted to them earlier. Part of me had believed Ross to be sarcastic at first, with the constant banging and shouting at them. "What's going on?"

Needless to say, I really wasn't too happy.

"MISSILES!"

"What? What are you talkin- OH MY GOD!"

Well, that certainly got him moving.

Ross pulled himself back into the drivers cabin, with such speed that I got the impression his pants were on fire.

Was that the saying? I can't quite remember. I think my boss might have made that one up when he told me it.

Just as the nearest missile seemed imminent to hit us, the truck swerved violently underneath us. The missile ended up exploding a couple of feet away from the drivers cabin, and I could feel my skin light up with the heat that seemed to pour out from the explosion.

I guess Arin has had training to avoid missiles. Or he's just going on instinct right now, which I couldn't really blame him for.

I felt my body wobble a little from the shock wave that came with the explosion, and it seemed to only spur on my body's natural adrenaline. I felt my body heat up with the added excitement, and I could feel my muscles tense and intense with extra energy that I usually might not have.

Adrenaline. The literal best thing in a fight.

I rolled onto my back to get a better look at the remaining missiles coming towards us. There was one that was really close to us, and one a bit further away.

At the speed we were going, a normal rocket would have not been able to hit us from this distance. That meant it had to either be locked onto our heat signatures or our Bio signatures. Doubt it would be bio signatures though, as Handsome Jack probably wanted to capture us alive.

"Bryan! Take care of the one closest to us!" I shouted over to my red armored ally, who nodded his head quickly to show he had heard me. "Does anyone have a lighter or something that makes flames?!"

"I have a flint that I picked up a couple of days ago!" Matthias shouted over to me, reaching into one of the million pockets on his armor to pull out a small bit of metal and a striking stone.

"Great! Hand it to me!" I shouted, clapping my hands quickly together to show I was ready. Matthias didn't waste any time, throwing it quickly with a over armed throw.

It was slightly off, a bit to my left. Probably because he had thrown it with his right hand, which I was certain was not his dominant hand. Despite this, I managed to catch both items securely in my own left hand.

While I got busy tearing the cape I had on my back, I saw Bryan click the final piece of his rifle into place. Despite his rifle only really having four pieces he needed to slot together, I remembered vividly one time he had fired it when he didn't check it properly. He nearly lost an eye that day from the explosion.

Watching him at work was invigorating in every sense of the word, seeing him pull back the chamber and slot in the ammo.

He had owned that gun for about... three years now? He had gotten it as a gift from Handsome Jack when he first started under us and he had taken to it like a duck took to water. Despite our boss always offering to replace the old model with a new one, Bryan had always refused. Handsome Jack had told him off for getting sentimental over a gun, but Bryan hadn't really taken it to heart.

Once the chamber was slotted back to normal, he brought the gun up onto his knee and aimed down the sights. Despite the difficulty of hitting a moving target, the fact the missile was locked onto us (Or the truck possibly) seemed to make it easier for him.

A sharp hissing noise and then a loud echoing banging noise rung out, the familiar noise that came from that old rifle. A second or two after he fired, the closer missile exploded in a fiery blaze in the air. The three of us could still feel the shock wave faintly, but Bryan had done his job correctly.

And now for my part, a large rolled up ball of the flimsy cape that was formerly on my back. That market stall owner had said that it wasn't good at protecting against elemental effects, but it seemed like that might be a good thing at this point.

I struck the flint towards the ball in front of me, with my foot squishing one half of the ball to ensure that it wouldn't go flying off the truck at a random point. That would suck a lot.

Matthias seemed to understand what I was trying to do, grinning widely at my plan.

"Nice! Actually using your brain huh?" Matthias asked, a small bit of his cheeky side coming out to the fore. It was a little strange to me how he could be serious and annoyed at our joking when things were serious, but one time out of the eight he would be the one that was joking around.

I raised my eyes momentarily away from my task, looking at the last missile that had been launched at us. Once I saw how close it was, I found myself annoyed for not asking Bryan to take out the second one as well.

I had only a couple of seconds left.

"Get ready for the truck to swerve again!" I yelled out the the others, feeling the large lump of cape smolder and suddenly flare into life. The heat got intense, and I flung it as far as I could from our truck.

Unfortunately, the small ball didn't really weigh that much. Throwing it with all my might was about as useful as trying to throw a feather.

I had been right, the missile veering away from our truck at the last second to follow the small fireball.

But, it exploded right underneath the right back wheel.

I could feel the entire back of the truck suddenly lurch upwards with the explosion, causing Matthias and Jfred to have to grab onto something nearby for support.

Jfred had Bryan to grab onto, to Bryan's displeasure. And Matthias, well... he had nothing.

The truck started to swerve violently from side to side, Arin trying his hardest to compensate for the missing back wheel. Despite the constant motion on the trucks carriage, I tried to crawl along the container to try and reach Matthias.

Matthias had given up on trying to do anything else than hang on, holding onto a small edge to ensure he didn't get flung off. I managed to reach him after the second wide swing, and I grabbed his wrist tightly in my right hand. I could see his face scrunch up in pain with my tight grip, but I wasn't about to take the chance of him falling off because I didn't want to pinch his wrist.

The truck swung once more towards the right (Or was it our left? Honestly, it was hard to tell with all the swinging and switching around) and I pulled Matthias closer to me to keep him safe.

I could suddenly feel myself partially falling down, and it was only when I focused my attention back on the ground around us that I realised what was wrong. The entire truck was starting to tip, the back end causing the rest of the truck to follow suit.

"JUMP!" Bryan commanded, and I did just as I was asked a moment later. I had learnt long ago with Handsome Jack and these guys that if you hesitated for a second in these situations, you often didn't get another chance. Asking someone why they commanded something didn't do you any good, unless you were looking to get yourself killed.

And so I flung Matthias over my shoulder, jumping as far away from the truck as my legs could manage in the last seconds.

Dan's P.O.V.:

It felt like ages before the ringing stopped in my ears, and I opened my eyes to see a blurry mess. I tried to lift my hand to rub my eyes, but it seemed so much more difficult than it had ever been.

For my first ever crash (That I had been a part of) I seemed to be mostly intact. My head hurt, but that would probably be a given. My legs were in a bit of a weird position, but once again they seemed to be fine. Chest? Fine. Neck? A small stinging pain at the back of my neck, but still not that bad.

Altogether, I had not really gotten that hurt.

In fact, I felt like I had landed on something soft. But we didn't really have anything soft to land on, so I was thoroughly confused on that front.

"Is everyone alright?..." I could hear Mark's voice call out, and immediately heard various groaning noises. I joined in with the groaning, a proper response sounded like too much effort right now.

"I'm alright" Someone spoke up, their feminine voice and slight nasal tone telling me it had to be Lissa.

"Same here, but I don't really know how..." Spoke up another person, their high and bright voice seemingly not dampened at all despite the crash. I guess that would have to be Jade, seeing as I don't know how anyone else could still be chipper. "Oh my god, Jack!"

"I'm fine" I could hear Jack groan, letting out a hiss of pain a moment later. "I just got me 'and 'urt, nothing really bad"

"I'm fine over here" Chris called out, sounding really distant for some reason. "I think Joy kept me safe, which is good"

"Is Joy fine?..." Mark asked him, sounding still just as weak as before. After he said that, I could spy a blob of colour in my vision try to move, before a large hissing noise came from him and the blob stopped moving. "Ow..."

"Yeah, I'm fine" Joy said, her proud and smooth voice sounding out clear without any sort of problem behind it. "We Alpha are pretty sturdily built"

"I don't doubt it" Connor chuckled softly, sounding very close to me. "I protected my head with my hands, so I'm alright"

"Same here" Troye said, also sounding very close to me. But maybe on the opposite side of where Connor was. "I'm slightly worried about Tyler however"

Huh, those three usually stuck together when people sat together in this truck.

"My leg hurts a little, but we're good over here" PJ said sounding very distant. About the same distance that Chris was away from me, but in a different direction. "Kyanna, you need to wake up now"

"Hmm... What happened?..." Someone asked groggily, but I paid no real attention to who it was. I guess it was either Kyanna or Suzy, but my head was too disorientated to really try and tell the difference.

"Dan, are you alright?" Someone asked me, and I finally found the courage to try and lift myself from the soft thing I had landed on.

My vision didn't really clear a hundred percent, but it soon got good enough that everything was no longer large blobs of colour in my eyes. The bright blue hair suddenly in my vision, coupled with the milky white skin and haphazard glasses on their face told me what I had landed on.

I had landed on Tyler.

"Tyler?..." I weakly asked him.

...

Why isn't he moving?

...

I can't feel any breathing...


	46. (46) Shock me

Ally's P.O.V.:

The dust seemed to take ages to settle, loud coughing coming from Matthias who was still somewhat haphazardly placed on my shoulder. Once I was certain that the earth was stable enough under my feet, I removed him from my shoulder onto the ground.

"You two alright?" Bryan called to me, and I could spy his vague body outline a small distance away from me. I couldn't see Jfred for a moment, which worried me.

"Yeah, I'm alright" I said, patting my legs to almost emphasise what kept me safe. It occurred to me a moment later that he couldn't really see me pat my legs, so he could only hear the noises. "My legs helped me land nicely on the ground, and Matthias was on my shoulder as I jumped"

"Besides my-Cugh!- my lungs right now, I'm also fine" Matthias coughed harshly from on the ground next to me, looking around as the dust started to slowly leave. "And just for future reference Ally, your shoulder is really bony! I could feel it jab into my hip as you landed!"

"Sorry" I laughed a little, trying to find some humour in the situation so that Matthias could calm down. "I guess I never really tried to carry someone over my shoulder before, I usually give them a piggyback or I lift them bridal style"

"Whatever, it's not that important" Matthias said, standing up beside me and checking me over now that he could see more clearly. There certainly wasn't any damage to me, unless you counted my now missing cape. Once Matthias was satisfied with my condition, he turned to himself and his two brothers instead. "Are you two over there fine?"

"I'm good, but my rifle broke as I flung it" Bryan said, waving his rifle in the air now that we could see him. From the looks of it, the rifle hand landed on the main barrel, and seemed to have slightly bent the long metal into a slight curve. "I can't use it anymore"

"Alright, we'll have to keep that in mind" Matthias said, checking his small purple coloured pistol for any faults. It didn't seem to have any, probably kept safe due to it still being in his armour when we jumped. "What about you Jfred? You alright?"

I turned my eyes over to where Bryan stood, knowing that the both of them had been pretty close when we had jumped. I could finally understand why I hadn't been able to see him before, Jfred picking himself up off the ground with a slight pain filled groan.

A good portion of his left arm was bright red, the skin blistering and peeling away in millions of little bits. A small portion of his cheek seemed to be the same, giving me the impression of a very bad friction burn.

"As you can see" Jfred said, trying to laugh a little to show he was relatively alright. He stopped the moment he had to move his left cheek, flinching and hissing in pain. "I kind of landed wrong"

"Oh god that looks painful" Matthias said under his breath, looking at his younger brother with worried eyes. "How bad is it?"

"Probably bad enough that I might actually need a instant health vial to fix it before it scars" Jfred said, experimentally trying to tense and relax his arm. A bad idea, as he stopped suddenly while letting out another hiss of pain. "But not bad enough that I need to get it fixed immediately"

"We need to get moving" Matthias said, turning his eyes to the rolled over truck. "Let's just get that back door open for these guys, and then we leave"

Part of me still wanted to protest to that idea. Yes, my boys were going to be safer if a maniac wasn't after them, but who was to say that they wouldn't simply be captured and used as hostages?!

Not to mention, with the amount of times they have gotten kidnapped in the last week, I'm honestly surprised that none of them have died out here on-

"We've got something incoming" Jfred suddenly mentioned, dashing over to the relative safety of the truck wall. The rest of us followed him over, and looked at him to explain further. "It looked like a moonshot canister"

"If it was a moonshot canister, then it is probably Loader bots directed our way" I said, reaching around to my back to find the big gun from August. I was momentarily confused with the lack of metal or substance.

Ugh! Of course, I forgot that Jack had it last!

"How can you be sure that it isn't normal troops?" Bryan asked me, working on trying to bend back the barrel of his rifle back to somewhat straight. "Some people have survived the trip in the moonshot cannon before"

"The people who survived getting shot out of the moonshot were being aimed at Elpis, not Pandora" I explained quickly, internally mad at my lack of weapons. "Pandora is too far away to be considered safe for human launching"

"Okay, so I have a quick plan formed" Matthias said, flicking the safety off on his pistol. How strange that Matthias was the only one with a working gun right now, the Beta who always told us that he would leave the fighting to us. "Bryan and I stay here and open the doors before things get too out of hand, while you and Jfred already make a beeline for that canyon nearby"

"And after that? We're just going to leave these guys?" I asked, jabbing a thumb at the crashed truck against my back.

"Handsome Jack is likely just going to chase after you and Jfred the moment you guys split from the group" Matthias said, peering around the truck to look at the large container that was hurtling our way. "Yup, that is definitely a moonshot container"

"Where are we supposed to meet up?" Jfred asked, looking at the canyon not too far from us to already figure out a path to follow along.

"Hollow point would probably be best to regroup" Bryan suggested, grumbling slightly at his completely useless gun. "No tracking capabilities and Ally probably knows the way back there"

"Vaguely" I commented, playing with my hair nervously. "Go past a giant lake, a burning bandit base and a pyramid and you might be in the right direction"

"Hah, good to know you haven't lost your ability to crack jokes in times of stress" Jfred laughed, momentarily ignoring the pain in his cheek. "I know I sure missed that in the month we were separated"

I couldn't really think of much to say in response to that. My jokes and quips were found to be hilarious, but they had always been more out of a sarcastic view on the situation.

Adrenaline has this funny effect on the body, some people even saying that an adrenaline filled version of yourself was more likely to be honest with themselves and others.

And what was my true version of myself? Snarky responses to serious questions, stubborn refusals to statements that made perfect sense in every logical way. Breaking lanterns, angrily snapping at worried people. Enjoying my power filled state, but only when I was allowed to let loose without the people I care about being affected.

God, I am a horrid person in my adrenaline filled state.

"Get going" Bryan told the two of us, giving the both of us a not too gentle push in the canyon direction. "Me and Matthias will work on opening the doors, distract them and then leave once they are relatively safe"

"If we are lucky, then we shouldn't even have to distract the guards coming down" Matthias commented idly to himself. "You and Jfred should be enough of a distraction if Handsome Jack is leading this attack group"

Jfred tried to reach out his arm to grab my right one and start running with me, but his friction burn caused him to retreat it after one simple muscle movement. He then moved himself in front of me, using his right to grab onto my right arm to try and spur me into action that way.

"Ally, come on! We don't have time to waste" Jfred said to me, holding my right wrist in his large hand and tugging gently on it to try and bring me with him. When I didn't react fast enough, he tugged me harshly with all of his might to bring me away from the truck wall.

I nearly stumbled over, my attention not really on my own legs or my strength to keep me upright.

"Wait! Just hold on a moment!" I shout to Jfred, tugging hard against his strength to stop the both of us for a moment. I twisted my body to look at the two remaining brothers around the truck, seeing them lift their eyes to me with confusion. "If you manage to tell them something before you leave, just... please tell them that I love them... and that I am so sorry"

Matthias seemed to be stuck between two emotions. Part of him wanted to roll his eyes at me, like he had done so many times in the past with my last minute decisions. But the other half, the part he usually tried to hide, seemed to scream a sense of understanding. That part of him that loved his wife, his little girl back home. They all reminded him about the meaning of love, and that feeling of belonging with someone.

Bryan, well, his emotion were loud and clear with the somber smile and understanding look in his eyes. He understood what it would be like, forced to choose between being with the people you loved and cared about, or to keep them safe by not being with them.

"We will" Bryan assured me, a sort of somber smile on his face.

"If we have the time" Matthias added quietly, sighing softly to himself. Not a sort of angry or annoyed sigh, more a sad sort.

"We will" Bryan said once again, a firmer tone in his voice to show how serious he was. "We'll make time"

"Thank you" I said softly, thanking every bit of me for the fact my friends were like they were. A quick glance to the moonshot container that had gotten closer, finally made me turn and begin to work my legs into a sprint. "Alright Jfred, let's get going"

"You got it" Jfred said, speeding up his long heavy strides to match mine.

His legs were longer, so it naturally felt a little bit like trying to race a bull that was charging at someone. But I ignored the biting tense feeling in my mind, trying to focus my body into a steady rhythm instead of trying to race him.

Me and Jfred would likely be on the run for numerous hours without stopping, maybe even running through the night if we had to, so we really had to pace ourselves with each other.

"Make sure to keep your speed at a decent level, not too fast Jfred!" I shouted to the man slightly in front of me, seeing him turn his worried blue eyes to me. "We will be running a long time, so excess speed will just make you-

My sentence got cut short with a deafening crash, the ground below us shaking and trembling underneath us. We wobbled a little with the large tremor, but soon got ourselves back on track with our sprinting.

I didn't bother looking back, but I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck prick up like a cats fur. Even though I had told these guys myself that Handsome Jack couldn't have come down personally without dying, I still had this bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

A feeling of Déjà Vu, just like that time we had seen Handsome Jack at that open elevator.

But that wouldn't-No, shouldn't be possible in the moonshot.

But then why was I feeling like this?!

"Are you sure we shouldn't hurry a little?!" Jfred shouted back at me, and I found myself internally battling for either side.

On one hand, there was the thought of pacing ourselves. On the other hand, my gut was telling me to get as far away from that container as I could.

I had always been told to follow my gut instinct in the past however, so...

"Yeah, let's pick up the pace!" I called out to him, pumping my legs into a faster speed. Almost like going from a canter on a horse to galloping.

"Sounds like a plan!" He called back, also kicking his own legs into a faster speed.

Despite us running at a faster pace, he still seemed a bit further ahead of me. If we simply had the goal to run away without any regard for each other, he probably would be able to outrun me after a little while.

But I highly doubt he would do that, or even be capable of doing that.

Even as we ran along at our fast pace, he still kept his hand securely around my wrist in a tight grip. Heck, even going so far as to sometimes check up on me with a glance, just like a big brother would do.

I just hoped that things would go smoothly for the others.

* * *

Matthias' P.O.V.:

Ally and Jfred finally ran off towards the canyon, thank god for that. I thought Ally would never listen to reason and stubbornly stay with these guys in the truck.

"Alright, let's not waste anymore time" I said, rounding the corner to the truck. I saw the thoroughly dented doors, and grumbled a little with how badly they seemed to have been crushed in the crash. "We should hurry up, get these doors open, give that quick message from Ally and-

The moonshot container that we had seen in the air for the last couple of minutes finally landed a couple of meters away from the truck, flinging a large amount of dust and sand into the air. The shockwave cause any sort of discussion to fall flat between the both of us, and I nearly toppled over onto the ground from the intense trembling underneath my feet.

I coughed loudly, directing my handgun in the vague direction of where the container landed. I knew a handgun wouldn't do much against giant robots, but they would at least confuse them in the dust and sand they were stuck in.

Just as I could hear Bryan groan and fight with the door behind me, I could hear some distinct noises in the dust. Some that had me very worried.

For one thing, I heard a weird beeping noise. One that certainly wasn't a common noise for the loader bots.

Second, I could see a whole bunch of red lights suddenly flare into life in the dust storm. About thirteen, maybe more. The maximum amount of loader bots in a container would be six. Even more lights flared into life afterwards, small lasers, all of them pointing in various positions all over my body.

"Bio signature helmets are go boss"

That. That was the final nail in the coffin.

These were part of the human army of Hyperion, not simple robots.

"Bryan! We need to go!" I shouted out to my brother, quickly aiming down the tiny sights on my gun at the vague figures in the distance. I didn't really have the best view on who it might be, nor whether I was actually going to make a proper shot at this point but it was better than just standing around.

"What do you mean we need to go?!"

"I mean, these guys are living soldiers with some kind of infrared vision!" I shouted at him, pulling the trigger three times at the soldier in my sights.

I heard three distinct noises, one being a whizzing noise, which meant I missed the first shot. The second and third shot hit their target, if the sudden wobble in that one laser sight was anything to go by. But the noise that accompanied it was far from normal.

A sharp electric noise rang out, almost accompanied with a noise of a bullet hitting a rubber wall.

The soldiers were wearing shields, and good ones too if two shots didn't phase it very much. Which only sent my anxious and frightened feelings further into my mind.

"Permission to fire sir?"

 **"No, you do not"** An eerily familiar, angry voice seethed in the dust. I didn't even need to see the two glowing eyes that suddenly flashed into life to know who it was. **"Nobody gets to kill those bastards before I break them"**

"Bryan! We need to leave now!" I screamed, suddenly turning around and trying to run around the truck before one of the soldiers disrespected his order.

"I need to get this door open first!" Bryan said, the metal of the door creaking with his intense strength working against it. "It'll just take me a second!"

"No! You don't understand!" I cried, trying to tear away my bulkier brother away from the doors. "Handsome Jack came down with them!"

"What?!" Bryan asked in disbelief, suddenly releasing the doors and looking like he was finally ready to listen to me. "How in the-AAAAAHHH!"

Bryan suddenly let out a giant blood curdling scream, reaching his hand up to his neck in extreme pain. It didn't take long for his convulsing body to suddenly topple over, his body writhing and twisting continuously in pain as a electric current seemed to run through him. I only finally understood what was causing the pain when I saw a grey sleek collar around his neck that seemed to buzz with electricity.

"Heat seeking shock collar is a success boss"

"Yes, I can see that" The same angry voice snarled at their underling. "Thank you captain obvious"

Bryan kept writhing and twisting in pain with the collar on him, and I tried to kneel down and remove it. Bad move, as the moment I touched his body I could feel the electric current try to run through me as well.

Shock collars were cruel in every sense of the manner, as it would shock someone the moment the collar decided you were using too much force in a movement or action. Which meant, if it was cranked up to full power, that it would shock an Alpha the mere moment they would even twitch. Even the simple act of flinching in pain would cause it to shock him again, so it often caused a never ending wave of pain for Alpha until they fainted from the sheer pain.

"MAKE IT-AAAHHAHOWW! MAKE IT STOP!" Bryan cried out, tears welling up in his eyes from the sheer pain of it all. His lungs seemed to be unable to take his shattered breathing, it even looking like his breathing was causing the shock collar to zap him.

"Your wish has been granted"

The shock collar let out a loud beeping noise, the collar suddenly decreasing from a full charge to about half. Bryan wasn't really able to move his arms that much, as it shocked him again as he tried to let go of his neck. But it at least stopped shocking him from his breathing and slight writhing, and he took in large shaky breaths as though he had been forced underwater for a long time.

"Hello Matthias, haven't seen you in a while"

I swung around to the voice that seemed to be right behind me, feeling their breath on my neck almost. I was met with the gigantic barrel of a gun, my meager pistol looking quite tiny in comparison to it as it was aimed directly at my face.

My eyes looked up from the barrel in my face, my gun still drawn in what felt to be a very nonthreatening pose to his chest. I met the cold mismatched eyes of my former boss, his mouth twisted into an animalistic smile that sent shivers down my spine.

"Aren't you going to say hello?" Handsome Jack laughed mockingly, looking at my pistol like it was a joke. "You guys have been gone for such a long time after all"

"Depends on your point of view" I said, unsure of why I was making fun of a man who could kill me with a mere pull of the trigger. "Some people consider a month to be a short amount of time"

"Even a day is a long time if you have something precious stolen from you" Handsome Jack seethed, his teeth bared almost as though he could frighten me with just his teeth. Not saying that they couldn't, he certainly did frighten me with those large canines.

"She's not a object" Bryan tried to growl at Handsome Jack, but it came out sort of shaky due to his bad breathing.

Handsome Jack looked down at my brother, annoyance seemingly oozing from every little action he made. He moved his free hand smoothly down to his waist, flipping some sort of switch.

With a large beep, the shock collar once again flared into life and made Bryan scream out in pain.

"AAAAHHH!"

I was wondering about whether Bryan would still beg for the pain to stop this time, especially seeing as why Handsome Jack felt like doing it.

But luckily for all of us, Handsome Jack flipped it back down to the half setting after a couple of seconds. Only to gloat about something however, as he growled something down to his fellow Class.

"You know, it actually feels really great to finally say this after all these years" Handsome Jack laughed, taking some sort of morbid pleasure from causing him pain. "But I never really liked you, not even once"

"The feelings mutual" Bryan managed to choke out, despite his breathing being an absolute mess.

Despite those last words coming from Bryan, Handsome Jack soon turned his attention over to me. He seemed to distastefully look at my pistol, before looking at my face in annoyance.

"Now, if you have any ounce of intelligence left in you" Handsome Jack said, motioning over to my pistol still clutched in my shaky hands. "You would know how futile it would be to still hold that"

I wanted nothing more than to shoot that bastard in the face. To see the shock register in his eyes for one last moment in my moment of defiance. I hated going along with some psychopaths orders after all.

But, he probably was also wearing a shield. One that would probably would make my last attempt useless.

Not to mention, the longer he took with me, the longer he had the chance to go after Ally and Jfred.

So I made a decision that felt like the stupidest one at the time. I dropped my pistol, hearing it clatter against the ground beneath us.

"Good boy"


	47. (47) Run to the hills

Dan's P.O.V.:

"I mean, he's fine, right?..." Connor asked Troye, as he cradled the small boy in his arms. His voice had long since lost its composure, it taking a small and shrill tone to it. "You can fix him, right?"

"I... I can certainly try" Troye said, shuffling himself closer to both boys. "I just need silence in the truck and I can try"

Loud banging noises continued outside the truck, which momentarily halted any sort of healing effort that came from Troye. I tried to twist my head to look at Troye better, but Phil's hands kept my head securely locked in place.

"Don't move your head Dan" Phil gently warned me, looking concerned with the slight head injury that I had received. "Until I know that you haven't got a head or spinal injury, we are remaining here"

"Phil, if we need to run, then you really can't be holding my head like this" I said, sighing in his grip. "I think I would have told you by now if I felt something weird"

"I know, but I want to be sure" Phil said defiantly, and I simply tried to shake my head at his decision. Emphasis on try, as his hands still locked my head into place. So, as I wasn't allowed to do anything else, I tried to follow what everyone else was doing.

Mark had been helped up from his crumpled position against the truck wall by Jack, Jack being mindful of his left hand as he did so.

"How are Jon and Suzy?" Mark asked Chris, who was checking for a pulse on the two people that Mark mentioned.

"They seem to be just unconscious" Chris responded to him, quickly moving onto the breathing for the both of them. "Steady breathing and a slightly elevated pulse, but they don't seem to have any injuries besides that"

"No external injuries you mean" Lissa mentioned, sounding a little bit pessimistic in her analysis of the situation. She sat next to Phil, and was double checking on me and him now and then.

The rest of the girls were trying to pry open the door to the back of our truck, Joy trying to use her abundant strength to tear the doors off their hinges.

"Be careful! If you pull it inwards, then you might accidentally hit one of us in here" Jade commented, seeing the way the door started to buckle.

"I know what I am doing" Joy said, still tugging on the doors. Despite her gruff response, you could see that she was now being a little more careful than she was before. "Besides, if I try to push it now it might bend weirdly and be unable to be replaced later on"

"From the way it is already bending, I don't think that should be your worry" Kyanna said, looking at the way the door was built and attached to the frame. "We likely would have to ditch this truck anyway because of-

"AAAAAHHH!"

Everyone froze in their respective actions, staring out the door where we heard that blood curdling scream. It was almost like listening to someone who had all the bones in their body broken. At the same time.

"That was Bryan" Troye said softly, his ears keenly tuned to the noises outside.

"Are you sure? Maybe it could have been someone who sounded like him" PJ asked him, looking worried with the prospect of an Alpha being taken down so easily. "I mean, there's no way-

"It's Bryan, no matter how you try to reason it away" Troye said, more firmly to him. "I don't know how and I don't know why, but it is Bryan"

I tried to wrack my brain for some way to explain the loud cry from Bryan, but nothing serious came to mind. Not many people would be able to beat an Alpha in a fight with hand to hand combat, not even other Alpha would find that easy.

A gun? Maybe, but I couldn't imagine such a loud or painful scream coming from a gunshot wound. The nether regions would be the most painful on a guy, but that is incredibly hard to hit with a gun.

What else would cause that scream?

Nothing came to mind.

Everyone else seemed to be lost in thought just as I had been, their minds also searching for a possibility on what could have caused it. Everyone except for Troye and Connor of course, as they had their minds focused on something else. Tyler.

Tyler, oh god. I once again tried to twist my head to look at him, but it still ended up with Phil holding my head secure.

I had banged into him during the crash. Since then, nobody had gotten a pulse out of his neck or felt him breathing. He didn't have any injuries on the outside, but as Lissa had bluntly put before, he could have gotten internal injuries.

"Alright, I need silence you guys" Troye said, scooting himself closer to Tyler in Connor's arms. "Not a peep unless it is an emergency"

I gently patted Phil's arms around my head, motioning for him to let go of me. He seemed to understand with a simple pat of the head, but he still looked hesitant as he removed them.

I could finally see clearly the damage that had been caused. That I had caused.

Tyler was laying in Connor's arms, his eyes were closed gently as though he was sleeping. Connor readjusted himself so that Troye could reach Tyler's head properly, and Connor must have lost his grip on one side of his shoulder.

The moment Connor lost control of the shoulder, Tyler's corresponding arm flopped onto the floor.

I think that was the last little bit for me. The final nail in the coffin. Tyler was well and truly dead.

Troye hurried through his chant, softly singing the verse he had to do in a hurried tone. I was worried that his rushed tone, along with a couple of fumbled parts of the verse, would ruin the components needed to activate his healing power.

"Now I flay thee down to sleep, I recommend myself to their care and when you awake, I shall give thee to their care..."

Despite everything going slightly wonky, Troye's lips still lit up with that bright blue shining light. He kissed Tyler's forehead, seeing the light blue transfer over in a small circle in the middle of his head.

Unlike every other time we had seen his power come into effect, it did something weird. Every other time, the blue light would end up spreading out into an area around the injured location. It had worked for the right eye of Ally, Jack's cut up arm and PJ's legs in the past.

This one, just didn't spread out at all around his head. It remained in that small little circle, and faded out after a couple of seconds.

It didn't seem to do a thing. I think that was the final nail in the coffin for everyone else.

"I-I don't understand..." Troye said, looking completely shocked at the completely dull use of his power. "That's never happened before..."

"Do it again"

Everyone else except for Connor, it would seem...

"Connor, if it didn't work this time, I really don't think-

"Just, do it again"

I felt almost dirty, looking at their attempt to heal Tyler. I know that it wasn't my direct actions that caused him to be hurt, but I still felt an overwhelming sense of guilt.

I looked away from the both of them, trying to ignore the sounds of Troye's singing. I had the feeling the second attempt would be just as useful as the first one had been.

I could hear the failed second attempt, mostly due to the loud wail that came from Connor.

"No..." Connor cried, and I could tell I was right. That was the first time in a long while that I had hoped I was wrong.

"Connor, I really don't think I can fix him" Troye tried to break the news softly to him, but he wasn't having any of it.

"No! He's fine! He probably just doesn't have anything that needs healing" Connor mumbled, trying to come up with reasons in his mind to explain away the lack of result. "He's probably just sleeping"

"Connor, he isn't breathing"

"He just needs to rest"

"Connor-

"I said he's fine!"

Phil started to cover his ears, but I wasn't sure why. It could have either been because he didn't want to hear the two boys arguing about this, or simply because he didn't want to believe he was dead. Either way, it wasn't changing our situation in the slightest.

"What do we do now?" I asked Mark, who still seemed a little bit dizzy. If the slight wobble in his stance was anything to go by.

Mark looked around our truck, seeing the slightly buckled doors to his right and the drivers cabin to his left. The drivers cabin was a possibility for someone to crawl into, a small window separating the main carriage and it. It would have to be someone really small however, someone with the build of a child.

"We should try and get Troye to crawl up to the front, where the controls are" Mark said, pointing over to the window he was mentioning. "He can communicate back to us whether or not this engine is still road worthy"

"It won't be" Kyanna quickly mentioned, cutting off that plan entirely. "Even if the engine still works, this frame and carriage won't be able to hold properly when we get it back upright"

"Alright, do ye 'ave a better idea?" Jack asked, grumbling slightly as he readjusted Mark's weight. "Cause we all 'eard that scream out the back, so that way is probably fucked"

"Maybe we storm the people if they try to come in here?" Jade volunteered the idea, digging around into her belt and shorts for small weapons. "I have my trusty dagger and Beretta"

"And I have my pistol over here" Danny said, finally speaking up from his position in our corner. "Not to mention you guys have me and Joy to handle any people who try to muscle their way through us"

"Okay, so you obviously missed the gigantic scream from earlier, so let me remind you about that" I seethed, remembering all too well that pained cry. "Bryan is an Alpha too, but he sounded like someone tried to break his bones"

"Doesn't matter" Danny tried to continue, a small screeching noise distracting me. "The longer we remain here, the more likely we will be found out"

The rest of our ragtag group started to throw ideas back and forth and how to handle the possible problem outside our truck, while I tried to desperately find that screeching noise. Almost like someone was tugging on something metal, but painfully slow.

The drivers cabin could be the source of the noise, but the noise didn't seem muffled at all. The small window, despite it being a simple glass pane, did muffle some noises that would come from the front.

The truck didn't feel at a slight angle, if you didn't count the fact that we were technically on the side of the truck instead of the floor. So, that ruled out the possibility of it being our entire truck groaning under its own weight.

The final possibility, was of course the doors behind us. I might have disregarded it quickly, had I not seen a slight twitch and twist in the way the doors stood.

Someone was trying to tear the door off its hinges, from the outside.

"Guys, someone is trying to-

The moment I raised my voice to the others, the doors seemed to suddenly jump off the hinges in a wild frenzy, the loud banging noise startling everyone. They had managed to tear the doors off so easily, which made me question about why it had taken them so long.

Had they waited silently, tearing on the doors little by little until someone noticed? If they had, this person had apparently seen us as some sort of macabre game, some toys to mess about with.

Whoever had torn off the doors flung them haphazardly behind them, soon placing their hands on their hips in a almost arrogant manner. Where had I seen that pose before?...

Whatever the pose came from, it didn't help with seeing the person's face. The fact they stood in the sunlight, we were in the dark for the last while, made it impossible to recognise who it was.

"Well hello there!" The stranger greeted sarcastically, his voice being a deep rumble that rasped its way out of his mouth. "I didn't expect it to be so easy to capture you all! It's almost like you guys made yourself into a present for me to unwrap"

Jade and Danny instantly pulled out their weapons, Chris making a weird dive down at Mark's feet for some reason. Oh, he went for August's gun.

The moment the three people aimed their guns at the stranger, did they laugh mockingly. They seemed to think of our weapons like small annoying pea shooters.

"Now now, don't you know that a good present to someone has a couple of rules?" They laughed, the deep notes and manner of speech making me think that I think was a he. "One of them, surprisingly enough, is to not try and kill someone with it"

Once he finished his sentence, did these weird forms of lasers focus on us. Nearly all of us, as none of the lasers landed on any of the unconscious people such as Suzy and Jon. These lasers, naturally, were attached to guns. Which were held by menacing looking people in these large, bulky yellow suits.

One of those lasers, was aimed directly at my right eye.

My body seemed to argue with itself on what I was supposed to do in this situation, my mind and instinct at war. My mind was telling me to not try anything stupid, just remaining still and calm until I was less likely to get shot in the head.

My instinct, my fight or flight reaction, was heavily thrown towards the fight side. My body wanted to activate my time manipulating abilities, take a gun from the nearest person, and shoot all of the people I could see. The ones in yellow suits of course.

Danny did cross my mind for a brief second, I admit. But he would be helpful to get out of this situation at least, so let's not do that.

So naturally, my body was fighting with my brain on whether to move or not. I must have twitched at one point, maybe my hand clenching for a moment or my head suddenly tilting in one direction.

I know that I must have, as a second later I heard one of the guns go off, the bullet loudly ricocheting mere centimetres from my hips.

"Geez kiddo, I honestly thought I didn't have to spell it out for you" The person sighed, rolling his eyes in a mocking and sarcastic tone, reminding me heavily of when we first met Danny. "You twitch, you get shot! Nod your head or something so that I know you can at least understand that much"

"How am I supposed to nod my head if I am not allowed to move?..." I asked, softly. I nearly jumped out of my skin when he laughed loudly at that, slapping his knee as though I had told him the funniest joke in a long while.

"You! I like you!" He laughed, pointing directly at me as he continued to laugh. His hand was even starting to interfere with the laser guided gun of his... friend? I dunno, I just remember the guy with the gun looking annoyed. "Ahh, its such a shame that I'm probably going to kill you later on"

"What?!"

"Well, see, that depends" The person said, using weird and excited hand gestures all of a sudden. It was like watching someone go from completely psycho to clown within seconds. "I was going to see how much you guys would annoy me, and keep some of you alive because otherwise Ally would probably never forgive me. But hey! Look at it this way! You are on the top of the list to keep alive right now!"

"How do you know Ally?" I asked hesitantly, hoping not to annoy the obviously deranged man.

"It's simple kiddo" He said, standing up straight to look down at us all. Even though I was certain Danny, Jade, Joy and a couple of others were standing, he still seemed to tower over us all. It must have been the way he stood for a second, the light falling onto his face for all to see and recognise. "I'm her boss"

A stiff looking face, small bits of metal that stuck out at the sides to attach his mask to his face. The mismatched eyes, both colours seeming so weird up close. The leather tanned jacket, rolled up to show his strong and scarred arms, no doubt from years of fighting people. And the wavy brown hair, all complimenting his arrogant smirk.

"I'm Handsome Jack"

* * *

Ally's P.O.V.:

This canyon seemed to stretch on for miles, the rough stone seemed to repeat its weird patterns every time I looked around me. Jfred's hand felt comforting around my wrist, despite the intense strength he put into the grip.

I wanted to hazard a glance behind me to, to possibly see if anyone was in the distance.

Was I looking for allies or enemies? To be honest, probably both.

If there were enemies, then there was the possibility that the group of people in the truck had been left alone.

On the other hand, if we were followed by Matthias and Bryan, then I would be even happier. They would be safer in that regards, staying close to us rather than still being near those loader bots.

But I had to face the possibility. Both sad, yet probably unbearably true possibilities.

The first, being that I would never see my boys again. Even if they managed to survive beyond today, I probably would never be able to see them again on Pandora. There are too many people on Pandora to even have the remote chance of seeing them by chance, not to mention it would likely just endanger once again.

The second? Well, that one was terrifying me even more.

There was a nagging feeling in the back of my mind, that there was the possibility of me never seeing Matthias or Bryan again.

Sure, they had a gun between the both of them. And yes, Bryan was a pretty strong Alpha. But the both of them against about eight loaders bots, who could each be loaded with mini guns and rocket launchers?...

I didn't want to think about them being gone, I really didn't. But I had to.

"Jfred?" I asked the taller man, seeing him spare a quick glance to ensure I wasn't panicking or in danger.

"What is it?" He asked me, the sounds of our two voices sounding a little bit funny from the constant thumping of our feet.

"Why did they send you with me?" I asked him, pondering over how quickly Matthias had assigned his younger brother to be the one to run away with me. "Not to complain about you coming with me of course, but I don't think there would have been much difference between you and Bryan in either task"

"Because he has this silly idea in his mind" Jfred responded curtly, sounding quite stoic and serious all of a sudden. Jfred wasn't looking at me, intently focusing on the distance ahead of us. "That if only two of our group could survive, that he would want the youngest two to live on to another day"

"Of course" I mumbled to myself, not really happy with the answer. I had expected it, but I wasn't happy with it. "How long are we going to wait at Hollow point for them?"

"We need to camp out at Hollow point for a long time anyway, to get Handsome Jack off our trails" Jfred said, coming up with a quick plan himself so that I didn't have to. I was very grateful for that at this moment, as right now, following someone's commands sounded way easier than coming up with my own. "Let's start with a year, and then see how we go if they haven't arrived yet"

"If they don't show up after three weeks, then they probably aren't coming" I said somberly.

"I know" Jfred agreed, letting out a strained sigh. "But I want to wait a year anyway"

Our plan seemed shaky at best, but it was a plan. I could have jokingly commended the both of us for coming up with a plan like this on short notice, but it would have fallen flat no matter how I tried to twist it.

"How funny" Jfred chuckled, his laughter sounding hollow and devoid of emotion. As if he was trying to make a joke, but he just didn't have his heart in it. "Two young Alpha, that suck at coming up with plans, forced to come up with plans"

"It's like you read my mind" I laughed in return, but even I could hear my own fake feelings behind it. I guess that finalised it, this was our plan.

Of course, knowing our luck, that wasn't meant to be.

A funny noise occurred, something sounding slightly similar to someone throwing a javelin really fast in our direction. A splattering noise rang out a moment later, with a loud thunk in the ground immediately afterwards right near Jfred's leg.

"AAAAGGH!" Jfred howled in pain, crumpling to the ground while clutching one of his legs. He very nearly would have dragged me down with him as well, had it not been for him letting go of my wrist. "OH GOD MY LEG!"

My eyes darted over to the thing that had landed into the ground first, wanting to make sure that it wasn't some sort of explosive javelin. Learned that the hard way one time.

But no, it wasn't a javelin with a explosive tied to it. From the way the small fletchling marks adorned it, it reminded me heavily of a steel arrow that Hyperion manufactured.

Thing is, I only knew one person at Hyperion who would use a bow and arrow. And I couldn't imagine why she would be out here, shooting arrows at Jfred and me.

"Ally! Are you-Oh my god that stings! Are you okay?!" Jfred asked me through clenched teeth, hissing in pain at the pain no doubt running through his leg. "God, arrows hurt way more than bullets do!"

"I'm fine, the arrow didn't even hit my clothing" I said kneeling to the crumpled up man on the ground, inspecting the wound. I had been slightly off in my first prediction, the arrow striking his foot rather than his leg. "Oh god..."

"What?! How bad is it?!" He asked worriedly, trying to flex the foot in question. Geez, this guy never learns about leaving injuries alone, does he?!

Another wound now adorned his previously white skin, the back of his foot being torn and dug into rather than the relatively skin deep friction burn some on his cheek and arm. This one had gone down far enough, that it had ripped his Achilles' tendon smoothly in half, leaving me to look at his bone and blood that poured out of the open wound.

This person, whoever had fired the arrow, had been precise enough to hit a tendon at the back of someone's foot. While they were running, and also managing to avoid hitting me in the slightest.

I didn't even know that many people who knew how to do that with a gun, let alone a bow and arrow. I only knew one woman who could do that.

"I don't think you'll be able to walk on that, let alone run" I gave Jfred the bad news, seeing his face turn into a more terrified version than what it already was.

"I don't suppose you would listen to me telling you to leave me behind?" Jfred asked, him trying to smile at me. It looked awful, let's leave it at that.

"Not on your life" I said, frowning all the while. His own lips soon turned into a frown of his own, matching mine almost in every aspect. We weren't mad at each other, but we certainly would relish being able to take out our anger on something that we could destroy right now. "I am not leaving you all to handle Handsome Jack on your own"

"You do realise he is going to kill us regardless of whether or not you come, right?"

"I'm not leaving you Jfred"

"Eh, was worth a shot"

Quick pitter pattering of feet made their way to us, something on four legs dashing from around a certain rock point towards us. It skidded to a slightly shaky halt a couple of metres away, snarling it's gleaming white teeth at us.

It wasn't a Skag, funnily enough, despite their abundance on Pandora. No, this was a normal hound, one that I seemed to recognise.

It wasn't like a normal hound that most people would get, spindly legs and a slight frame better built for running than it was for taking down large beasts. It seemed to have a sleek grey coat, that shined in the sun almost like silver would.

It let out a large angry bark, almost daring either of us to attack it. I suppose her hound had always been more likely to pick fights with guys, it had gotten its owner into trouble in the past before.

A sharp whistle brought the hounds attention away from us, momentarily looking over it's own shoulder to someone who came around the same rock point that it had come from itself.

"No Ossa! No attacking these two!" A woman's voice called out to Ossa, who whimpered an apology to her. Ossa's owner wasted no time in running over to us, her sleek metal bow drawn with another arrow notched onto the string. "Please don't make this more difficult you two, I really don't think us fighting will do you much good"

I didn't even need to look at her face to know who she was. I didn't need the short blonde hair, blue eyes, the familiar wafts of Citrus and Lavender or even how much distance she kept between her and Jfred to know this woman.

"Nice to see you too Jesse" I greeted her, finally raising my head in her direction. She sighed in annoyance at my sarcastic tone, deciding to lower her bow slowly when she saw that I made no move against her. "You were the last person I expected to see helping Handsome Jack out"

"I'm not helping him out" Jesse huffed, tucking her bow into a self made clip on her back to hold it in place. "I'm helping you out"

"That sounds like a whole bunch of nonsense, and my foot can attest to that" Jfred growled, glaring at Jesse in annoyance. It didn't make a blind bit of difference when Jesse handed me a bandage, allowing me to start applying it to the back of his foot, or even when Ossa growled at him in response. "And who are you supposed to be again? I don't remember you at all"

"She's the one who got into trouble because Ossa nearly took of Handsome Jack's hand one time" I explained, keeping my eyes sternly fixed on her hound.

"He had it coming" Jesse quietly mumbled to herself under her breath, probably hoping that neither of us heard her.

"He literally just touched your shoulder" I said, looking utterly confused. "And you still haven't given a reason for why you told Ossa to attack him that time"

"So, in other words, she hates Handsome Jack as well?" Jfred asked us both, gasping pain when I pulled the bandage too tight.

"Yeah"

"Yes"

"So then why are we in this situation, with my foot being completely screwed?!" Jfred asked her, banging the ground harshly in annoyance. Ossa started to bark loudly at Jfred, but he seemed to ignore the hound vehemently.

"Because, the easiest way to break your friends out of somewhere, is by getting yourself in the same place" Jesse stated plainly, finally satisfied with the finished makeshift bandage. It didn't seem to matter to either of them that the bandages were already getting soaked by blood, it turning a deep shade of red. "And Handsome Jack would not have believed that Jfred would come along willingly"

"Why didn't you shoot Ally?!"

"Probably because Handsome Jack had threatened to kill anyone who hurts her" Jesse said, rolling her eyes as I felt it was obvious. I mean, it was obvious to me, but you had to explain some things slowly to Jfred. "And I can't help you guys escape later if I am dead, now can I?"

"Did he kill anyone yet?" I asked, turning to look in the distance from which we Alpha had come from. "Is everyone still alive?"

"Those two outside the truck were still alive when I got sent down into this canyon" Jesse said, looking a little unsure about her answer. "I don't know what might have happened in my absence"

Of course she didn't know. The universe wasn't about to hand me a break, was it?

We have to make our own miracles happen on this planet. And now was no different.


	48. (48) I'm the boss

Dan's P.O.V.:

I guess it is really easy to say that you would be able to kill someone without trying. I could distinctly count the number of times that our little group from the Little hole in the wall had promised that they would kill Handsome Jack the moment he came into our sights, regardless of what would happen to us.

It's a lot harder when the guy is actually in front of your face.

"Is that everyone out of the truck?" Handsome Jack asked the nearest soldier of his, a upset look on his face. I could see his eyes scan over each individual person's face as they came out of the truck, mine included. It seemed to me as if he was looking for someone, and he was getting more annoyed with each person who wasn't them. It didn't take a genius to find out he was looking for Ally.

Speaking of Ally, where was she? When I got herded out after Phil and Lissa, I could only see Bryan and Matthias. Bryan was lying on the ground, seemingly keeping himself as still as possible. Meanwhile, Matthias kneeled next to him, silently glaring at Handsome Jack with his hands on his head. Now that I look again, Jfred was missing as well.

No Jfred, and no Ally. I guess it shouldn't have surprised me that they booked it the moment Handsome Jack was making his way here.

"Yes sir, these are all the people in the truck" The soldier responded to him, which caused Handsome Jack's frown to worsen. "What do we do with the knocked out people?"

"What? Oh, them..." Handsome Jack said a little distracted, not really focusing on the soldier at all. "Just dump them next to each other with a shock collar on each one"

"Yessir"

While his troops did his bidding, Handsome Jack still frowned at us, looking around at each face. Despite knowing that Ally wasn't here, he still seemed to be looking for something.

"Get on your knees!" The soldier guiding me with his gun gruffly said, shoving me harshly to the ground. I let out a cry of pain as my knees banged harshly against the ground, and the soldier seemed to get annoyed with it. "Shut up! Or so help me, I'll-

"HEY! NO!" Handsome Jack suddenly called out to the soldier. "I thought I gave clear orders that none of these people were supposed to be harmed!"

"But sir-

"NO BUTS!" Handsome Jack growled at the soldier, cutting off any arguing from him. "If I find out that any of these people even have a scratch on them, I'll kill you! Do I make myself clear?!"

"Y-Yessir!"

Handsome Jack snarled, but didn't say much else to him. The guard decided to err on the side of caution after that outburst, leaving me between Matthias and Bryan on one side, and Phil and Lissa on the other side.

"I finally manage to get out of Tarnock's grip, and for what? Just to end up caught by someone worse" Lissa grumbled, very pessimistic about the situation. Any attempt of soothing her from Phil seemed to fall short, her pointing out something else equally as upsetting.

All in all, those two were very occupied with each other.

"Dan" Bryan whispered to me, catching my attention from all of the chaos that was happening in front of me. He tried to turn his head to properly look at me, but something metal on his neck suddenly beeped loudly before he spasmed in pain. So, without trying to move his head anymore, he kept talking to me. "I know this is probably a bad time to tell you, but Ally wanted you to know this before she left"

"Now is really not the time Bryan" Matthias hissed softly at Bryan, but Bryan simply rolled his eyes in response. Apparently Bryan rolling his eyes wasn't enough to trigger the thing on his neck, which I now assumed to be a shock collar like Handsome Jack had mentioned.

"We promised her that we would tell you guys something" Bryan continued, ignoring Matthias in every sense of the word. "She wanted to apologise for everything that she has caused, and that she loves you all"

I wish I could have said that those words brought me everlasting joy, that I was a good person who forgave her for everything and that I loved her from the very depths of my soul. That would be complete and utter bullshit, if you couldn't tell.

The truth was, that I was confused on how to feel with hearing those words. I still felt feelings for her, those feelings of wanting to protect her along with the good memories of days that we shared.

But those feelings of trust, they had completely left. She had abandoned us here, after literally days and weeks of hiding who she really was from us. How am I supposed to know that everything that she had shown me, what she had told me, that it wasn't all a lie?

"Well, isn't that a nice face to look at" Matthias snarled sarcastically at me, it being obvious that he was less than pleased with my unhappy expression. "To think Ally argued with us so much about not abandoning you guys for days on end, and this is what her final message gets"

"She argued with you guys? About not leaving us?" I asked, the shock evident in my voice. He snorted, as though it was both laughable that she felt that way and that it should have been obvious.

"Why else do you think we stuck around with such a gigantic group for so long?" Matthias asked me, occasionally darting his eyes to Handsome Jack to make sure he wasn't looking our way. He was quite a distance away, but he was looking at us for some reason. Unless he had super human hearing, he would just see our lips moving. "If I had it my way, we wouldn't have regrouped with you lot at the burning bandit base"

I let that sink in, also beginning to watch Handsome Jack with wary eyes. She had stayed with us, even when it would have been smart for her to leave us and hide somewhere. Hell, if she was thinking about trying not to be found, then she shouldn't have even left Hollow Point!

If I was her, I would have never even stuck around in the motel.

But, she didn't. She stayed with her us through every little thing. Hollow point, getting kidnapped by Bossanova? She was there, leading us into a death rally. The bandit base? According to Danny, she had even allowed herself to get kidnapped to try and get us out. Running at full speed when PJ had fallen into the water, trying to save him back at the lake.

And now, to learn that for days on end, she had always remained with us. Even when her old coworkers, whom she seemed to trust with her life, were telling her to do the opposite.

Was it foolish? Without a doubt in my mind. Did I forgive her for everything that she might have done while working under Handsome Jack? Absolutely not.

But, one thing it did do, was inspire a feeling of happiness in my heart. A small little spark of trust, just like when she became our pack leader.

"Hey, curly locks"

I snapped out of my happy state, suddenly looking up at persons face. Handsome Jack had decided to pay me a personal visit, crouching and hovering in front of my face. It felt like I had lost all of my personal space, his nose would be brushing mine if he moved a couple of centimeters forward. All manner of small conversation seemed to have stopped with everyone else, but I didn't dare take my eyes off this man to see if I was correct.

"What were you three whispering about over here?" Handsome Jack asked, his tone a sickly sweet version compared to his angry one from before. Despite his question and somewhat friendly tone, it all felt incredibly fake. He was pissed about something.

"We-We were wondering where Ally was" I lied through my teeth, hoping to make up a good excuse. It was a pretty reasonable explanation to me, and he might even get himself distracted with Ally being missing.

Unfortunately, I got the distinct impression he didn't buy it. Tilting his head, the same friendly and sickly sweet tone behind his gentle hum a moment later. As he tilted his head slightly further, he pulled a small little object from in his earlobe. It looked like a small metal marble, a lot of small grooves ingrained into the sides of it.

"Do you know what this is?" He asked me, holding it in front of my right eye. My mouth felt like sandpaper all of a sudden, and simply shook my head to show that I didn't. "You don't, huh? Here, I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out when you put it on"

He put the device in my own earlobe, the machine twitching and moving to fit into the shape of my ear. Once it was securely in, Handsome Jack pointed over at some distant soldiers of his near our crashed truck.

I didn't really understand why he was pointing at them, but I looked in that direction regardless. It didn't even make any sense, they were too far away for me to clearly hear them or anything. When I finally focused on the both of them, did I hear a faint buzzing noise in my ear, before...

"...at's what I am telling you! This truck crashed because of the missing tire!"

"Are you sure man? I have seen a truck run without the rubber on the wheels before"

"That truck was missing the rubber on all of the wheels! Not just one!"

I could hear them perfectly. If Ally and I had our wordless link with each other, I bet I would hear her berating me for showing my emotions on my face. Hell, even I could feel my face was not a blank poker face.

No, I was definitely shocked. Shocked and scared.

"Now, let me tell you one thing" Handsome Jack said, slowly losing his sickly sweet tone and flipping over to a low, quiet growl. "I hate people who lie to me"

I could almost feel the vibrations in the air from his growl, his strong Alpha attributes terrifying me with their intensity. While I might have been on the top of his list to keep alive before, I was now probably at the bottom.

I now knew where Ally learnt that speaking softly was way more menacing than shouting. I would have felt better if he was trying to chew me out, but this felt too close, too personal.

"And what's more, I think I heard something extra" Handsome Jack said, one side of his lips turning into a nasty frown, his canines threateningly sharp. "Something about how she loves you guys?"

"Yes..." I said quickly, deciding to not lie to him anymore. I didn't want to do a single thing that would make him shoot me in the face.

"I see" Handsome Jack said, sweeping his eyes slowly at everyone else in our group. "And who entails 'you guys'?"

"There's nine of us" I said, thinking quickly in my mind. I had to come up with some lie in my head, to ensure he wouldn't go after all of us. "But I think there are two of us that she seems to trust more than others"

"Who's the other one?"

"Other one? What do-

"Please, its obvious that you are one of the two" Handsome Jack grumbles, rolling his eyes. "Don't ask me how I know or why, just tell me who the other person is"

Almost as if my eyes were betraying me, they instantly darted over to look at one person in particular. Mark, who was watching Handsome Jack with angry eyes.

"That one, huh? Good boy" Handsome Jack said, his voice a weird mixture of a growl and a purr to show he was pleased. I guess it wouldn't be wrong to call him half pleased and the other half livid. Once he was satisfied with the knowledge he had gained, he patted my cheek mockingly before standing up straight.

He started to make his way down our line to Mark, each step sounding louder and louder in my ears. It didn't help that the small device was still in my ear, which made me able to hear him so clearly.

It felt like Mark had been marked for death, and I was the one who had targeted him. In the final moments before Handsome Jack reached Mark, I mouthed a hurried apology. A gentle exhale of breath, along with a calm and gentle look was enough. Enough for me to know, that he was alright with this.

But something managed to draw our attention away from his death wish against me and Mark, a soft whimpering sound from about halfway down the line. It seemed to also grab Handsome Jack's attention, him stopping for a moment at two people down the line.

Connor was still clutching Tyler close to him, his momentary sobbing catching people's attention.

"Why are you crying?" Handsome Jack asked Connor, looking down at Tyler.

"Tyler got hurt in the crash..." Connor said softly. I wasn't sure if he was now fully aware of how serious Tyler's condition was, but I wasn't going to bring it up now.

Handsome Jack looked down at Tyler, suddenly losing his temper from before. Instead, he seemed to have acquired a worried one. He begins to kneel in front of Connor, like he had done with me. But it had lost every bit of the angry attitude, looking slightly somber.

I half expected Connor to snap at him when Handsome Jack placed his fingers around Tyler's pale wrist, but he only got a slightly confused glance from Connor.

It only took a couple of seconds for Handsome Jack to move his fingers to Tyler's neck, holding two fingers under his jaw. It took even less for him to finally just hold his hands over the left side of Tyler's chest, feeling for any sign of life.

"...How old was he?" Handsome Jack asked, his metal face looking sad. I found it unbelievable that this guy felt any sympathy for us, as he still seemed to hate our guts. If he really did feel any sort of sadness, that would have been the third time he suddenly flipped between emotions.

"Is" Connor corrected him, which I felt was very dangerous at the time. Seeing his emotions flip from confident to giddy and angry to sad, I didn't want to find out how much it would take to make him flip again. "How old is he would be the correct term"

"Alright, how old is he?" Handsome Jack corrected his term, even putting emphasis on the changed words.

"He's twenty eight now" Connor said, looking down at his blue haired friend. "He always calls himself the old man of our group, despite the fact he isn't the oldest"

Handsome Jack didn't say anything in response to Connor's answer, his eyes seemingly glued onto Tyler. Only the loud thudding footsteps of a soldier behind him seemed to suddenly make him think of something.

"Hey! You there" Handsome Jack barked to the soldier, bringing himself upright and marching over to the frozen soldier in a hurry. "Who ordered those missiles to be fired at the truck?"

Wait, Handsome Jack didn't order those missiles to be fired at us?! I looked over to Matthias to try and see I felt this was normal, as he probably knew is man a lot better than I did. Matthias didn't seem too surprised, but it also looked like something that Handsome Jack might have ordered.

Of course, because Handsome Jack wanted us alive. He had thrown a fit at someone roughly shoving someone to their knees, so he probably was secretly livid at learning that one of us had died in the crash. Which he didn't order.

"That was me sir, because you had told us you wanted this group captured as soon as possible-

"You apparently forgot the most important factor that I told you" Handsome Jack snarled, pointing back at Tyler and Connor behind him for the soldier to clearly see. "I told you to capture them alive! Tell me, you absolute moron, what do you see over there?!"

"A-An unconscious person?" The soldier asked hopefully, his nervous face probably hidden behind the weird helmet he was wearing. Bad answer.

"You seem to have a problem with your sight" Handsome Jack said softly, clenching his right hand tightly. "Here, let me clear that up for you"

He suddenly raised his arm to point at the solider, almost like it was the barrel of a gun. A flash of blue light, and suddenly a giant laser gun formed onto the limb, and it fired instantly into the soldier's face. A weird sound, probably a mixture of a loud "pew" noise mixed with the loud shattering of fibre glass rang out all around us. The entire helmet shattered in a spray of bloody carnage, splotting the formerly pale yellow sand underneath us. The body fell onto the sand as well, causing a following loud thud that seemed to shake the ground more than any earthquake had ever done.

The moment I was able to, I covered my head with my hands to protect it somewhat. Despite my ears being sort of covered, I could still hear the snarling and shouting coming from the man.

"NOW LISTEN CLOSELY YOU BUNCH OF YELLOW SUITED NEANDERTHALS!" Handsome Jack bellowed from the top of his lungs. "WHEN I GIVE YOU AN ORDER, YOU FOLLOW IT! YOU DON'T TWIST IT TO HOW YOU WANT IT, OR DO IT SOME WAY YOU THINK IS BETTER! YOU JUST FUCKING FOLLOW IT!"

"I guess I should be saying that I am surprised to see you lose your cool like this, but it honestly isn't that surprising"

The familiar voice managed to bring the tension out of the air, if by accident because of the distraction that it served.

Ally stood there, supporting Jfred on her shoulder. Jfred seemed to have something wrong with his right leg. No, something wrong with his right ankle. The deep red coloured bandage on his ankle gave it away.

The reason for his injury became clear when a smaller woman moved into view from behind the both of them, holding a metal bow with a arrow already notched onto the string. Her outfit seemed to blend into the environment around her, a light beige that didn't stand out against any sort of colour. Except for bright colours perhaps, then she might look a little out of place. A small weird Skag seemed to circle around her legs, it being weird due to its mouth not being sideways like most Skags would on our planet.

"I followed these two out into the canyon beyond" The woman said, motioning to the canyon with her head. "It wasn't that hard, seeing as the both of them left gigantic craters from their running"

"Good job" Handsome Jack said, looking a lot more relieved now that the person he was looking for, was found. "Umm... Jamie?"

"Jesse" She corrected him, lacking any sort of malice in her correcting tone. "It's Jesse"

"Sure, Jess" Handsome Jack shrugged, not really caring too much about the name mix up. "Just keep that dog of yours away from me"

The dog snarled at Handsome Jack, almost as if he was aware of the conversations going on. Despite the teeth in the dogs snarl, it didn't seem to phase the leather clad Alpha in the slightest.

Instead, Handsome Jack seemed fixed on Ally. Conflicting emotions seemed to flash by in his eyes, but the majority of them seemed to be relating to him feeling utterly relieved to see her alive.

Ally, on the other hand, had only anger and rage in her eyes. Whether she tried to look as angry as possible or simply looked this way naturally didn't matter. It was clear that she wanted to destroy the man in front of her.

"Hello Princess" Handsome Jack greeted her, almost a little bit sarcastically. "You look quite well for living on this shithole for three months"

"I can guarantee that I would have looked a lot worse under your ever so loving care" Ally retorted, trying to pick anything negative out of his sentence. "Being held in your quarters "for my own safety" while you blew up this planet would have killed me"

Wait, what?! Blowing up the planet?!

"Nobody would have missed it" Handsome Jack growled, obviously upset with Ally's view on this.

"These people would have!" Ally responded angrily, gesturing to us the best she could while not dropping Jfred. "They live here! And they can't help the millions of people who turn to banditry because of the poor economy and living good conditions!"

So, she had left because Handsome Jack had threatened to blow up Pandora. It would seem like suicide to come down here then, where he had threatened to destroy everything.

But it had seemed to do the trick, at least extending the date by a good three months.

"I'm not having this argument with you again" Handsome Jack sighed, shaking his head. "I'm taking you back with me to Helios, regardless of whether or not you want to"

"Just like that huh? Always ignoring whatever anyone else tells you because you don't like it" Ally grumbled while rolling her eyes. "Just like a child"

"At least a child knows how to hide better than you do" He grumbled in response. "It was the stupidest thing to leave a Hollow point you know"

"What can I say, beyond your elegant words?" Ally asked sarcastically, a smirk across her lips. "Us Alpha aren't known for our smarts"

While those words didn't have any effect on us, as they didn't make much sense beyond a simple phrase, it seemed to have the most profound effect on Handsome Jack. He looked offended, as though he had literally been slapped in the face with something. I guess those words must be something that he had said to her once.

Once he recovered from the remark, he growled loudly in annoyance and stormed his way over to the both of them standing there. Before either of them could really do much, he flung Jfred harshly away from Ally, Jfred landing on the ground with a pain filled cry. Ally, who now had nothing really to support her, was thrown over his shoulder in haste.

"Get those ships down here on the double! Get the rest of these prisoners up to the cells! And make sure they are alive and kept away from each other!" Handsome Jack commanded to the rest of his still alive troops with his left hand, his right securing the struggling blonde girl on his shoulder. "By the time I'm through with them, they'll wish I had ordered them to be killed!"

 **End of phase two**


	49. (49) Fly me to the moon

Ally's P.O.V.: (Credits for the picture go to Please check him out and give him some love if you have the time)

 **Begin phase three**

Oh how I used to stare at that broad back. Back when we first met, it always seemed to be so tall and gigantic. He would lead me anywhere, and it would be so easy to follow him without a care in the world.

As the years went by, his back started to become less tall. I grew, and with my increased height, I could see how much weight he was carrying on it. His shoulders began to slump, and he no longer held the enthusiastic way of leading our group anymore.

I used to hope that with time, I would be able to take on the weight that he held. To make it easier for him, so that he could finally stop being disappointed and betrayed at every turn. Unfortunately, by the time I was old enough to take on some of his role, he had gotten so concerned with keeping me safe that he never allowed me to take anything on.

And soon, our small tight nit family of five reduced to two. With each member killed, his sanity slipped. He stopped caring about doing the right thing, instead picking speed over people's lives.

Now, he was almost unrecognisable. In more ways than one.

The gentle humming of the small fighter ship we were on seemed to calm any sort of tension that we had before. I sat in my little shock force field, listening to the light crackle of the walls. Poking it hadn't really told me much, beyond that it would shock me for even a slight touch. And it also told me that Handsome Jack didn't really enjoy the noise of electricity shocking someone. Or maybe it was just me being shocked that he didn't like, I hadn't really asked him when he told me off.

"Sir?" A soldier asked Handsome Jack, my boss tiredly steered the small ship's controls in an attempt to ignore the soldier over the intercom. "Sir we really need some advice"

My boss sighed heavily, annoyed with the constant voice coming over the intercom. He flicked a button idly, and the main screen of the ship lit up with some random yellow suited soldiers face.

"What do you want?" Handsome Jack asked tiredly, returning his hands to the steering wheel.

"Sir, Sagittarius is causing a lot of our members to get injured"

"Who the fuck is Sagittarius?" Handsome Jack asked, rubbing his metal mask tiredly.

"It's Jesse" I piped up from my position on the floor, seeing my boss crane his neck to listen to me. "Her code name is Sagittarius because of how well she knows how to handle a bow"

"Oh... sweet, thanks Hun" Handsome Jack thanked me, a small smile gracing his lips. For a brief second, it felt like everything was back to normal between us. "So, what's the problem with Jess?"

Before the soldier could respond, I found myself snorting loudly at his mix up. His usual old habit of getting names wrong hadn't disappeared in those three months I had been gone.

I was partly worried about possibly annoying Handsome Jack at this point, but his even larger grin on his face told me that I had just caused him to be happier.

"What the fuck is so funny you little tramp?!" The soldier barked over the intercom, causing my boss to frown intensely. "Laughing at the boss will ensure that you get killed or tested on! Why I should-

 **"Don't speak to her that way"** Handsome Jack snarled, his mask showing a perfect image of his sharp canines to him. "Now, what the heck is that archer girl even doing to make you call me?"

"I-er... she is beating up any of us that are trying to get her on a ship back to the base" The soldier said awkwardly, scratching the back of his helmet. "She is refusing to get on any ship that has men on it"

"Then just call down a ship that has a female pilot! Honestly, do I have to do everything for you idiots?!" Handsome Jack shouted, angrily slamming his fist down onto the button. The screen shut itself down, and I couldn't hear the soldier anymore.

Handsome Jack sighed, leaning back in his chair and lazily flicking another switch.

"Autopilot activated" A robotic female voice rang out through the ship, the ship gently tipping itself to make it more stable than my boss' former steering. His right eye had become more dominant after his accident four years ago, his mask hiding the horrific scar he had gotten then. He couldn't use his left eye anymore, so it didn't surprise me to see he still favoured everything to his right.

He leaned back against the leather chair, it creaking loudly with his added weight.

"Hah, sounds like a metaphor for me" Handsome Jack laughed, twisting and stretching those shoulder and back muscles I had come to know so well. "Creaking and groaning in my old age"

"Each day feels a little bit longer than the rest sometimes" I said, halfheartedly agreeing with him. "You don't need to growl out each person that calls me a name"

"It wasn't so much the name calling" He sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. "It was the threatening to kill you simply because you laughed"

"You didn't make that a rule when I left?"

"What?! No!" He said, looking honestly shocked with my question. "Why would I make that a rule?!"

"I wondered the same thing, as it didn't make any sense from what I knew about you" I said, preparing myself mentally for our happy atmosphere to break instantly the moment I said my next sentence. "But then I remembered about the thing you had promised three months ago"

He sighed loudly, which I suppose I expected to be one of his main reactions to my statement. That, or him reacting just as scathing as he had earlier down on Pandora.

He was either thinking on what his response could be, or he was hoping I would drop it if he remained silent. Either way, he left our discussion in silence for now. Pressing him wouldn't result in anything, so I just focused my eyes out the main windows of the ship.

I could see Helios, our giant space station, so clearly in the distance. The massive eye still seemed to glow a deep ocean blue, not looking any different in my time away. To think, that for five years, I would always be excited when I came back home to this weird little home of ours.

"Don't you ever get the feeling that everything you did down there was for nothing?" Handsome Jack asked me, looking back at me behind him. Despite the fact I was sitting on the floor while he looked down at me, I didn't really feel in any danger at all. "You clear a bandit camp? Two new ones sprout up the next day! You take your time to try and slowly help people with no extra casualties? You get blamed by the people for not doing anything! You do it faster, with small casualties compared to the amount of people that would die if you didn't do anything? Then people label you as a monster!"

"Why do you think I wore a mask constantly while doing any jobs down on Pandora?" I sighed in response, remembering the times people would assault me if they saw me in my costume. Usually teenagers who had nothing better to do than throw stones at some masked stranger that cleared out bandit camps across the way from their town. "It didn't make me want to blow up a planet however"

"You would if it took away your partner and child"

Ah, of course. Nisha and Angel, two people who meant the absolute world to him.

Nisha, the cowgirl with fire in her veins, who had also been in a romantic relationship with Handsome Jack for about three years when she got killed by a vault hunter. She had been like a big sister to me, always treating me to extra gun shooting lessons and teaching me all the things she knew. If your big sister was always intent on finding something to shoot, then chances are she was like Nisha.

And Angel, Handsome Jack's teenage daughter. While she really disliked her father for never letting her leave the machine she was hooked up to, she meant the world to him. She meant the world to me as well, and to hear that her final moments were her cursing both of our names hurt deeper than anything. She asked a vault hunter to disconnect her from the core that kept her alive, while I heard her father beg her not to on the intercom that connected the three of us. I held her body in my arms that day...

My boys, Danny and Brian, the girls we had befriended along the way, the trio of brothers from Hyperion. I had gotten so attached to each and every one of them, while Handsome Jack didn't. If I lost them to bandits, lost them to the endless killer fauna and flora of that cursed planet, would I soon become bitter and hateful of that planet too?

"Are they all fine?" I asked, my mind racing with the sudden horrible ideas of people no longer being there. "The people in the truck, did you hurt any of them?"

"...One of them died in the crash..." Handsome Jack said softly, looking upset with both the news and the fact someone had died. My heart seemed to skip a beat, my mind freezing with the sudden news. Before I could hurry out the question that I dreaded, he answered it before I could even utter the first syllable. "I had asked one of his friends what his name was so that I could get a proper tombstone for him, I think his name was Tyler?"

Tyler. Tyler had died in the crash.

For once, he had gotten the name correct. Unless the guys had lied to him about the person's name, but I didn't really understand why they would do that.

Despite hearing those words from his lips, my stubborn brain seemed to keep trying to find reasons on how this might all be a mistake. That it was the wrong person, but they gave Tyler's name. How Handsome Jack might be lying to me to try and bring down my spirits. Maybe Tyler had just fallen unconscious, or Phil had managed to pull something off with his telekinesis to have his heartbeat stall for a bit.

Even with everything that my mind was coming up with, I felt an undeniable feeling in my heart. That I was never going to see my squeaky voiced, bright blue haired friend smile at me again.

Funnily enough, the five stages of grief didn't seem to completely work for me. If I had been following it correctly, I should be livid at Handsome Jack right now, ready to tear his throat out the moment he turned to look at me.

No, I was instead completely the opposite. I felt so empty, like I had managed to lose all my emotions. A lethargic feeling in my mind, with my wear muscles all slowly shutting down. I wanted to fall asleep, any concerns I held for the world seemed to be so difficult to find the energy for.

"I'm so sorry Ally" Handsome Jack said softly, standing up from his chair at my lack of response. He allowed the ship to keep it's calm course to the base, instead choosing to sit just outside of the force field that kept me contained. Just far enough away that he didn't get shocked of course. "I made a mistake with the orders I gave to my soldiers, saying that I wanted you guys to be... captured as soon as possible, and they decided that those missiles were the fastest way"

"Oh..."

"I already killed the guy who ordered that to happen by the way" Handsome Jack told me, trying to find some way to bring a reaction out of me. I couldn't tell if he was trying to make me mad or laugh with his next sentence. "So, you know, you don't need to demand his death"

"Okay..."

He looked upset with my unemotional reactions, his mask twisting into a somber version rather than his usual self. I didn't expect much from him at this point, but I certainly didn't expect him to move his hands to his mask. A quiet click sounded, the metal joints keeping his mask in place disconnecting smoothly. As usual, his mask then suddenly went to a blank version, due to the lack of facial features for it to read from.

I found myself unable to look away as he lowered his mask to the floor, showing his scar to me. The only times I could remember him taking off his mask were really serious or sad times, as he hated the way his face looked as it was after his accident. This, was his way of showing me that he was ready to talk between the both of us, without anything in the way.

His eyes were still fixed to the floor, as though he was embarrassed to even be looking at me in this state. I wondered for a moment if it was because of his actions which contributed to Tyler's death or for the simple fact that he thought his face wasn't something to show anyone, which was ridiculous.

His scar hadn't changed at all, it still being a odd blue colour. The shape was a bit of a weirdly shaped horseshoe. Beginning at one cheek, reaching up to his forehead before dipping back down to his other cheek. His left eye was firmly tight shut, the scarring causing his eye lid to be unable to open. Even if he could open his eye, I got the impression he probably wasn't able to see anything from it anyway.

He hated people staring at him when he had his mask fail. He hated it even more when someone tried to touch his face without his mask on. So, then why on earth was I reaching out my hand to his face?

His eyes finally moved over to me, my outstretched hand making him wary. Despite his apprehensive look to my hand, he didn't move his head further away or tried to stop it. I guess that meant I had his permission?

Or not, as I had forgotten the shock force field that lay between us. As it shocked me, Handsome Jack jumped a little himself. I guess he forgot that was there too.

I retracted my hand, feeling the tingling sensation from the shock run through my fingers. It annoyed me, which in hindsight was probably a better thing than having no emotion.

Before I knew it, a small beeping noise sounded from near to me. The force field dissipated in an uneven fashion, leaving me the opportunity to now move freely.

Any real enemy wouldn't have done that. Because, I now could attack him if I had the chance. Heck, he could too.

He found ourselves looking at each other, weighing each other up. Even though I knew he wasn't likely to attack me, every instinct in me was telling me to attack him and break free from his control.

And yet, I simply reached out my hand to his face like I had done before. It would be correct to say that I was a bit more wary this time, careful of anything that I hadn't noticed before.

It didn't take long for me to reach his face, my two fingers feeling along the scar on his left cheek. He flinched slightly under the gentle pressure, but he once again didn't pull away.

"I missed you" I whispered softly, almost speaking the words without realising it.

I think that was the final trigger for him to throw his arms around me, tugging me onto his lap like I was leaving him.

How good it felt to be in his strong arms again. How amazing it felt to take a deep breath in, and smell that vibrant vanilla that faded into pepper.

God, how I wished that Hyperion didn't exist. It could just be us, down on Pandora without any company corrupting things. We could just travel the planet, helping people as we went along.

Reality is a cruel bitch.

"Don't hurt any of them" I sobbed softly to him, still running my hands over the smooth scar on his face. As he moved his arms around me, them wrapped tightly around my chest, I felt safe and yet frightened at the same time. Frightened of losing everything. "My people from Pandora, don't hurt any of them anymore"

"I'll do my best baby"


	50. (50) Bad romance

Danny's P.O.V.:

Good god, do none of my romances end up with anything beyond getting hit in the head by people?! At least when I was with Sara, she was the only one to smack things over my head. With Ally, it went from almost being killed numerous times, to being punched in the head by that Arin, to being punched in the head by Brian, to being slapped by Ally herself.

The list seemed never ending, now ending with those guards of Handsome Jack who decided to put a shock collar around my neck. Cranked up to the max, if the very high pitched beeping noise was anything to go by. And these shock cuffs weren't helping either, keeping my arms trapped behind me.

The lights seemed blinding in this place, my eyes stinging from the unnatural light compared to the soft orange glow you could find on Pandora. Metal, for miles and miles. It seemed to stretch on for all the eye could see. Occasionally, on the path the soldiers were guiding me, I could look out of a large installed window, looking down at my former home with a little bit of a confused feeling. All the problems of the people down below seemed to be so far away from this space station.

"Keep moving!"

The soldier shoved me harshly to try and make me speed up, and I stumbled a little to try and regain my balance. This, of course with my luck, activated the damn shock collar that had been placed around my neck.

"AARGH!" I cried out, falling to the floor in a twitching mess. I tried my best not to react to my body's natural impulses to flinch in pain, instead trying to stay as still as possible. I hadn't lived for over thirty years on Pandora without knowing how to handle a shock collar after all.

It didn't take long, the painful searing shocks stopping the moment I ceased my struggling. But of course the guards weren't happy with that, weren't they?

"Oh, I'm sorry, did that hurt?" The guard asked me mockingly, poking me on the floor with his gun. "Now get the fuck up before I decide to shoot you in the leg!"

"I'm not sure if you realised" I hissed from my crumpled up position on the floor. "But you set the shock collar too high, so I can't get up"

"Sure, and my aunt is the queen of Skags" The guard said, obviously not believing me. "Let's see if this motivates you!"

He let loose a single round into the floor next to my face, and I simply sighed in mild irritation. This guy really didn't understand how shock collars worked, did he? Probably some stupid Beta who felt invincible because he held a gun right now.

 **God, how I wanted to be able to tear this guy open, suit and skin opening like a morbid present. Heck, I might even consider it to be my birthday gift for years to come.**

"Hey! Watch it!" A employee that was unarmed yelled at the guard, not happy with the sudden shooting. "That ricochet nearly hit me!"

"Oh, um... sorry?" The guard apologised halfheartedly to the employee, missing me with my eye roll. Once the employee sniffed snobbishly at him, they went away leaving the both of us in that metal corridor. "You really can't get up?"

"No, I enjoy being stuck on the floor with half my face squished" I sarcastically said, rolling my eyes once more the best I could without activating the darn thing. "I hear uneven faces are really sexy in this age"

The guard grumbled, tugging harshly on my black leather jacket to bring me to my knees. Once I was sort of secure, he started fiddling manually with the shock collar around my neck. Due to the fact I didn't really feel like getting shocked again, I simply sighed and thought about why on earth I was here.

Handsome Jack. He was the main reason I was here, quite obviously. But what didn't really make sense to me, was why I was here.

He obviously had crashed our hunk of junk truck looking for Ally, so why did any of us matter to him? Furthermore, he had insisted that he wanted us all alive. Hell, dude shot a guy because he had caused the death of one of those gay kids from Ally's pack.

Well, think Danny. Ally had said that we were alike in more ways than one, as much as I hated to admit it in any regard.

So, what would I do with a bunch of people, if I knew they had taken away my girl?

Revenge. I would want to make each and every person who dared to try and take them away from me regret their every decision from that point on. And of course, I wouldn't want anyone else to have the pleasure except for me.

Perfect, so that psychopath wanted to torture us. How lovely.

Goddammit I knew I should have split from Ally the moment I learned who her boss was. So why didn't I goddammit?!

That, I knew the answer to as well. Because I am a man of old habits, chasing women who held power within them, and those who weren't afraid to throw it around when it suited them. Whether it be their fiery personality or their literal strength, I found myself undeniably drawn to women that made me feel alive.

And because Sara had left me, taking Stefan with her, that left me with nothing to go on. An old pack mate who would likely kill me any day of the week, and a craving for excitement in the air.

Dealing with bandit bosses didn't give me much, leaving me with plenty of money to go around with no real use for it. Women, usually one night stands that would want to sleep with me to try and get some edge into the power play of the world. Didn't usually work out for them, getting themselves killed just as easily as they opened their legs.

Hell, I even slept with men. Mark was one of them, an attractive man in every right, but that wasn't the real reason I asked him to sleep with me. I knew very well how possessive Bossanova was of that muscly Omega, I had even seen him a number of times when I did business with him. Although I was interested in seeing what he was capable of in bed, it was the uproar that would come afterwards was what I was going for.

I had hoped, that with some little bits of rumour and gossip here, with a little bit of whispering secrets over there, that Bossanova would become enraged. That he would send his entire bandit clan against me, giving me the thrill of being some kind of lone gunman with bullets flying all around.

And you know what that idiot bandit boss did? He apparently didn't give a rats ass about me sleeping with his Omega. Claimed I was too valuable a trade partner to really care. Also told me to my face that I wasn't the only one that he had "lent" his Omega to. All he really cared about was about where Mark had gotten to.

I sure as hell wasn't going to give his little prize back, not after he had left me with nothing to really get my fix on. I told the ass that I didn't know where Mark was, despite the fact I was in control of that motel that he lived in. He didn't care one bit.

Everything seemed to be going so slow. Run of the mill things seemed to come by, all boring me to no end.

And then, that was when I heard that small whisper. A small little bit of gossip, from one single source.

"Did you hear?" I heard one day, whispering in the shadows of a bandit base. "There's apparently a female Alpha going around, wrecking shit all over the place"

"Yeah man" Another whispered back, the words dancing around in my ears like music. "I even heard she killed some dude just by using a piece of bark!"

Those small whispers, were what I followed that day. A female Alpha was rare in it's own right, but to hear about one that didn't care about keeping the peace? To hear about one that flaunted their power without much regard?

I needed to find out who it was.

Truth be told, I couldn't give a rats ass about that shipment that wasn't paid for by Bossanova. I had really planned to go to him, to hear about information. I wanted to know who this mystery female was, and I didn't give a damn what I had to give to get it.

But when I did show up, oh boy. I found something extraordinary, going on right in front of my eyes.

A death rally was rampaging on in the arena of Bossanova's place, that wasn't anything new. But there was a single truck that all the others seemed to try and cram around, one that seemed to kick up a fuss. As though someone had kicked a hornets nest, and seemed to enjoy themselves while they did so.

On the back of that truck, were a trio of people. Two lanky boys, that seemed out of place in the entire arena. And one, single female that stood in the middle, shouting orders to those around her.

Throwing pipes into windshields of of trucks. Kicking people off the side of the truck, watching as they tumbled onto the ground. Even commanding the people she was surrounded by with an iron tone, it all seemed to enrapture me from afar.

And of course, to finally see her command a pack. It certainly wasn't normal, being able to see and feel the sudden change between them all. If me and Brian hadn't been old pack mates, then I would have missed out on the glorious feeling that came with feeling their tidal wave of anger merge into one.

God, how it excited me to see her crush Bossanova underneath her feet. It was the final step that made me jump from that roof, drawn to her like a bee to a flower.

It only drew me further in, when she had tugged her hand out of mine when I had tried to kiss it. Like a proud noble, who didn't even hesitate to distance herself from me. It sent shivers up my spine.

I didn't care that I had to lie to her about a reason to come with her. Truth be told, I was extremely bored. But she wouldn't have allowed me near her if she knew she could get out of Hollow point without me, so a simple white lie seemed perfectly fine at the time.

And then, it all came crashing down once we were out of Hollow point. She dropped the icy and proud act around her precious pack, coddling them all like children at the mere mention of them getting hurt.

She wasn't proud, or a powerful person with exciting thoughts at every turn. In truth, she was just a violent woman. And she just hated me, plain and simple.

It suddenly made me violently ill, realising how similar she was to Sara. How Sara would be an ice queen to me, enrapture me, and then coddle our son the next moment without letting him grow and learn his own mistakes. It just reminded me so much of how stupid I was, chasing people who reminded me of my ex. Except that this one was half my age, with an obvious distaste for how I acted.

After that, I started to lose the reasons for sticking with her. Arguing with Brian so much about why we shouldn't stay with her, him being the stupid idiot he is. Even if his reasoning was sound, that she was powerful and useful to be around, I wanted to get as far away from her as possible. I would even have left Brian behind if he insisted to still stay at the nearest town, losing both her aching similarities and that annoying old pack mate in one fell swoop.

What a shame we never managed to make it to that stupid town.

"There! Now you should be able to stand and walk without me having to help you" The guard said, slapping my side to snap me out of my thoughts.

"How polite of you" I grumbled sarcastically, pulling myself to my feet. I wasn't even on my feet for three seconds before he started to prod that damn gun of his into my back, pushing me forward. "You know, this would be easier if you lead the way, instead of manhandling me when I happen to go the wrong way"

"Yeah right! You'll probably try to run away the moment I turn my back!" He grumbled, pushing the gun further into me to make me go faster. "Just hurry up! We've kept the boss waiting long enough"

"Oh no, what a horror"

"And quit it with the attitude!"

* * *

It took a while for us to finally reach a set of gigantic yellow double doors, probably because we took a number of wrong turns on our way here. Of course the guard blamed it on me, it totally wasn't his fault for getting lost.

If you can't hear the sarcasm, then chances are you really don't understand much in this world.

"Boss, I brought the first prisoner!" The guard barked into a console near the wall, trying his best to keep an eye on both the console and me. "You know, the Alpha one with the curly hair?"

"Oh my god, you absolute dunce" The same voice that I had heard earlier from the man himself seemed to grumble out. "I told you all to bring the FEMALE Alpha first! And I said wavy hair, not curly!"

"Err... I thought that was Ally?"

"THE OTHER FEMALE ALPHA! THE FUCKING BROWN HAIRED GIRL WHO BENT THE TRUCK DOORS!" He shouted out the console, frightening the living daylights out of the guard. "DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT A FEMALE BETA CAN BEND DOORS?!"

"Err... no?"

An extremely loud sigh was the only response the guard got back, the doors opening regardless of the mistake. The guard took that sign as me being good enough, waving me in with his gun. He probably didn't dare to actually threaten me, not after seeing his friend get shot the last time someone had accidentally killed someone.

I walked in, nearly scoffing at the vain decor around the entire room. It had two gigantic bronze statues, that seemed to have been built in Handsome Jack's likeness. Underneath the glass floor I walked on, was a running water stream. No fish were present in it, but it still was probably really expensive.

I didn't get much more time to look around the room, being ushered up a small flight of stairs to stare across a big oak desk at Handsome Jack himself.

"Take a seat, it'll make it easier to remember your face if you are about the same eye level as me" He instructed, pointing to a chair that had been set up across from him. I shrugged my shoulders at his instruction, before sitting down across from him.

"I don't get to lose the cuffs at least?" I asked, trying my hardest to fight the sarcastic tone in my voice. It hadn't been good enough, the guy raising a metal eyebrow that was a part of his face.

"Just a precaution, I assure you" He replied icily, and I could hear his difficulty with hiding his disdain for me. I hated how right Ally was right now. He tapped something nearby, bringing up a electric input machine. Probably to write down details, if my backwards reading was up to snuff. "Name?"

"Danny"

"Does Danny have a last name?" He asked me, typing in the letters of my first name angrily. Good, if he was going to torture me at some point, I might as well be as annoying to him as I could right now.

"Sexbang"

He paused in his typing when my last name completely sounded out, looking at me angrily with dark eyes. He looked like he wanted to kill me on the spot simply for annoying him, taking a deep breath in to try and calm himself.

"Hilarious" He said, the acid practically dripping off every syllable. He seemed to hang onto the last 's' in his word, sounding like a snake that was warning me not to annoy him. Good thing I'm not afraid of snakes.

"Thank you" I responded just as sarcastically as I had always done, but now with a small smirk crawling its way onto my lips. "I made it up myself"

"You know, I can imagine why she had you with her" Handsome Jack said condescendingly, leaning on his elbows as he leaned forward to stare at me closer. "She wanted someone annoying to take out her anger on"

"I'd probably agree with you on the annoying part" I said, grinning wider and wider at him. I was like a funny reverse mirror between us, the bigger my grin got the bigger his scowl got. "After all, she told me I acted a lot like you"

His anger seemed to reach boiling point, his scowl turning into a angry snarl. His teeth were bared at me, just like most Alpha would do at this point. Oh the fun I would have if I didn't have these shock instruments on me. I probably would love to fight with him while destroying his office while I was at it.

 **"Guard"** Handsome Jack said slowly, his every syllable sounding like he was having more and more difficulty with stopping himself from lunging at me in anger.

"Yes sir?"

 **"Take this trash away to a cell right now"** Handsome Jack snarled at me, slowly standing up and clenching his desk in anger underneath his hands. I could hear the wood groan and protest with his might, splintering slightly as he spoke. **"Before I do something I'm going to regret"**

* * *

On the way to the cells, I was feeling very proud of myself. I had managed to ruin that psychopathic, absolute madman and vain asshole's day completely with a couple of words. The guard, who had been present the entire time, seemed to think the opposite of me.

"You're an absolute moron" The guard sighed, shaking his head as we walked along. "You do realise that he's probably going to kill you first, you realise?"

"He was going to kill me anyway" I said, shrugging my shoulders like it was no big deal to me. "Might as well be a big pain in the butt while I'm at it"

The guard sounded like he was sighing at my response, but suddenly seemed to choke on air for some weird reason. It wasn't until I heard a loud snapping noise, that I understood that Brian must have shown up.

"What took you so long?" I asked, laughing loudly in the silence without the guard. To my surprise, he had chosen the exact corridor where no other guard happened to be stationed.

 _"You just assume that it's me when you hear someone's neck snapping?"_ Brian thought out to me loud and clear, which only proved my point further that it was him.

"I can't think of many other people who can sneak up on a Alpha and a armed guard without making a noise, and then snapping their neck" I said, turning to look at him. Lo and behold, there he was, in all his stupid masked glory. "Now could you get these cuffs and collar off? They're making my skin itchy when they don't go off"

 _"Most people would be content with it just making their skin itchy, you moron"_

"You can't go two seconds without insulting me, can you?" I asked, hearing the metal break behind my back. I flexed my arms gently, relishing the ability to move my hands freely.

 _"I'll stop insulting you the moment you do something intelligent"_ Brian told me, soon making quick work of my shock collar around my neck.

I flexed my neck now as well, moving my body completely without having to worry about my strength. The only thing that now really annoyed me, was the fact that I couldn't kill that guard myself.

"So, wiseguy" I chuckled, seeing his eyes twitch in annoyance. "What now?"

 _"We leave"_ He stated simply, making his way down a corridor. I didn't have much choice but to follow him, as I didn't think I really had remembered the way we had come from.

"Not to complain, I like the fact that you aren't going the goody two shoes route" I said, making sure to keep up with him. "But I would have thought that you'd be all for helping the others escape"

 _"Even I know when I'm outclassed"_ Brian said simply, peeking around a corner when we came close to it. With nobody down it, we made haste in our trek to the ship bay. _"And this is way outside of what I am able to do"_

"Hey, like I said, I'm not complaining" I chuckled softly to myself, feeling only slightly guilty for what we were about to do. "Ally got us into this mess, she can get herself out"

 _"And here I thought you liked her"_

"Yeah, 'liked'" I said, sighing with this discussion brought up. "Emphasis on past tense"

 _"So even if they literally make it onto a ship we are flying, we won't help them?"_

"If they make it on, then they can stay all they like until we get back to Pandora" I said, shrugging my shoulders at him. "But I'm not going out of my way to help these guys"

 _"How polite of you"_

"Pot calling the kettle black Brian, pot calling the kettle black"

(Hey guys! Just a personal question, but who do you prefer out of Handsome Jack and Danny? Or, if you like neither, who do you hate more than the other?)


	51. (51) Locked out of heaven

PJ's P.O.V.:

The crackle of electricity from this wall sounded so menacing, the constant buzzing seeming so powerful compared to old wooden doors down on Pandora. Seems smart.

It probably isn't smart to be touching it, however.

"Ow!" I unconsciously cried out, pulling my fingers away from the light blue wall. It was the only real thing separating me from my freedom, so it seemed stupid at the time not to try and see how painful it actually was. Well, let me tell you, I was berating myself for trying it now.

"Hey! Pipe it down back there!" A guard yelled down to me, sitting at his cozy little desk a couple of cells down from my position.

I rolled my eyes, the comment from him just making me more likely to try it again. I would literally shock myself over and over again if it meant this wall would come down. Hey, just annoying this guard in his usually peaceful time would be enough to try it again.

"Ow!" I hissed again, trying to keep my voice down a little to not seem weak. The second time wasn't any different from the first, the sudden jolt sending a wave of pain through my fingertips. I looked down at the three fingers I had held to the wall, feeling the way it tingled and felt funny. I guess that was a mild version of what getting shocked by those shock collars was. Ouch indeed.

"I told you to keep it down back there!" The guard shouted once again down to my cell, him still somehow being able to hear me hiss under my breath. "Why the hell do you even find it funny to get yourself zapped?!"

"I don't" I told him sarcastically, holding my shocked hand gingerly. "I'm doing it to warm myself up, because I'm going to die if I don't"

"Wait, seriously?" The guard asked me, suddenly sounding concerned. Was this guy an idiot?! Did he not hear the dripping sarcasm in my voice?!

I was about to snap at him for his idiocy, when I remembered how something stupid had managed to get us out of trouble one time. That time when... Tyler... had managed to command that one guard to let us out in Hollow Point.

Oh god, if only Tyler were still with us now. If everyone was in one cell, with him still with us, I bet we could get out of here no problem.

But no, it was just me. I was on my own in this vast cell, and none of my friends seemed to be in any of the cells around me. Unless they were all knocked out, they would have recognised my voice.

In fact, a quick glance told me that I was the only one in all of these cells. Guess that left me to come up some sort of excuse for the guard to open the cell.

"...Yeah... I don't like to mention it to people, because I sound really weak" I mention on the off hand, reluctantly touching the electric wall once again for further emphasis. "Ow! Cause, you know, on Pandora you can't show weakness to anyone otherwise they try to take advantage of you"

"Yeah?" The guard asks, obviously interested in the long and convoluted tale I was trying to spin. Heck, he was even standing up from his desk to come and check up on me. Bingo.

"I have this condition I got from my mother, one that she only told me about one cold night, when a thick thunderstorm was over our camp" I say, touching the wall again and flinching. "She had passed on the condition of hypothermic blood cooling, which means our blood cools down extremely fast if we fall asleep or stop doing something"

"How did you not realise that earlier?" The guard asks skeptically, and I could swear I didn't even need to see his face to see his eyebrow raise a lot. Regardless, he was still coming closer.

"Well, you know how Pandora is really hot during the day? And how everyone always sleeps next to a campfire at night because of how cold it is?" I ask him, seeing him nod his head quickly. Man, it's like he was urging me to go on at this point. "Well, that always ensured that I never really had to do anything special to keep myself warm"

"Alright... but what does that have to do with you touching this wall?" He asked, gesturing to the wall in front of the both of us.

"Adrenaline, my good pal" I said, shrugging my shoulders for good measure. I touched the wall again, just to make sure it still seemed believable. Good god it hurts the more I do it. "Adrenaline causes the body to work in overdrive, which heats up your body"

"Ooooohhh" The guard said, now understanding my lie. I could not believe I was getting away with this. Just how on earth was I getting away with this?! "Wait, does that mean you are dying right now?"

"Not as long as my hand retains its feeling" I said, holding up my sore right hand. I didn't even mean for my hand to shake as violently as it did, the pain causing my nerves and muscles to be a complete wreck. In the end, it was just caused him to believe me even more. "Oh, why am I feeling so weak?..."

"Ah shit" The guard swore to himself, seeing the state I was in. Or, you know, the state I was pretending to be in. "Hold up man, I'll get you to a cell that has some air conditioning in it"

YES! I couldn't believe my ears! I managed to really pull this off!

Looks like Tyler might actually be looking out for me, from wherever he might be looking down from. I miss him already, and it hasn't even felt like a day cycle yet...

"HEY! What are you even doing?!" Some other person suddenly yells at the guard, making him jump a couple of meters in the air. "Help me with this girl! For a girl who claims to be a diabetic, she's pretty energetic!"

"ADRENALINE WILL DO THAT TO YOU!" The girl yelled loudly, obviously thrashing around a lot in the guard's grip. I didn't even know who this girl was, but it sounded like she was trying something similar to me. I like her already.

The two guards scurried over to contain the wriggling mess between them both, them obviously having difficulty with the flying limbs going all over the place. Unfortunately for whoever this girl was, they manage to wrestle her into the cell directly opposite to me. The one that had been leading her there flipped a switch on a small console next to her cell, the light blue wall sparking into life.

"There! Now stay put!" The guard leading her grumbled, huffing from the exertion. "So, what were you doing with that other prisoner?"

"Huh? Oh, he claimed he needed to be somewhere warmer" The guard who was going to open my cell said while jabbing a thumb over his shoulder at me. "Said he was going to freeze to death if he didn't"

Well, if you put it so stupidly, nobody is going to believe that one.

"Sounds like absolute bullshit"

Told you.

"I-I mean... He really sounded-

"Yeah yeah, whatever" The other guard grumbled, shoving his partner harshly towards his desk. "Get back on watch and don't fall for something as stupid as that"

"Hey, wait!" The girl in the cell across from me cried out to the guards, being extra careful about the wall in front of her. "What about my sweets?! I'm a diabetic, I told you!"

"Yeah, I highly doubt it" Her guard grumbled, but still decided to throw a small burlap sack filled with something decently heavy at her. To my surprise, the wall allowed the small bag to pass through without any damage caused to it. Does that mean that things are able to go through these walls one way? "But seeing as I don't want to possibly report to Handsome Jack that one of you died due to my ignorance, there are some sweets to eat"

The girl uttered a quick thanks, immediately diving for the small sack of sweets. She began to eat some of them in a hurry, sometimes having to spit one out because she had forgotten to take off the plastic wrapper. All the while, she didn't even seem to have realised that I was looking at her from across the cells.

The bronze skin that she had seemed to shine in the dull light of the cell, also causing her tied back black hair to shine faintly. That, combined with the gusto that she ate those sweets at, seemed to feel comforting.

Because I knew who this girl was.

"Kyanna?" I asked softly, trying to stand as close to her as possible without zapping myself. Her head whipped around at her name being used, the familiar face suddenly looking very relieved.

"PJ?! Oh thank god, I thought I would never see any of you guys again!" She said, looking very emotional all of a sudden. She lay on her belly, lying as close to the wall as she dared to do. When she waved her hand in a "come here" motion, I copied her by lying on the floor of my own cell. "There, now it is easier to talk quietly"

Despite it being a good idea, it felt a little weird. I could feel how the wall crackled and sparked right underneath my nose, most of my willpower working on not hurting myself. I moved a little backwards, and that solved the problem quite easily.

"So, now that you actually aren't going to fall asleep on your feet-

"Gee thanks" She chuckles a little, shaking her head.

"Hey, you forget that I fell off a cliff for you" I jokingly told her, seeing her nod her head in approval.

"I know, I know" She says softly, smiling gently as she laid her hands underneath her chin. "You're always going to be my hero~"

I got taken aback by the comment, laughing awkwardly to try and cover up my embarrassment. She just continued to smile at me, as though what she said wasn't any trouble to her emotions.

"Um, well.. yes, like I was saying" I said, coughing a little to try and clear up my jumbled sentence. "Do you have any ideas on how to get out of here?"

"Well, I'm not usually so good with high tech stuff as this" She said, pointing to the wall in front of her. "But, I did get a look at the name of the cell maker"

"Good news, I hope?" I asked, trying to peer at the name of the panel. The only real thing I could read from this distance was the word "Atlas".

"Indeed, as Atlas is actually years old and has faulty tech when not used for it's original purpose" Kyanna tells me victoriously, popping a brightly coloured lollipop in her mouth. "This model reminds me of one that was used by my group a long time ago, and it isn't meant to be used for multiple connections to a single power source"

"Bad luck for them, good luck for us" I winked at her, seeing her smile widen in glee. My cheeks are starting to heat up, aren't they? "Because I can see hundreds of cells in here"

"The moment something happens to one of these cells, then the system for that one cell with greedily lap up the power to try and fix whatever is wrong" She explained quickly, trying to look down the hallway at the guard snoring at his desk.

"And where do I come in?"

"You, my good man, get to smash that small dome light in your cell with your strong, sexy legs"

Okay, now I KNOW that my face is going bright red. I laughed awkwardly again, instead choosing to let my face fall in my hands.

I hadn't been flirted with since... Since...

Now that I think about it, I don't think anyone has ever flirted with me. Not even Ally did that, I considered that to be more teasing than anything else.

"Too far?" She asked with a laugh, seeing my current emotional predicament. Despite her tone sounding teasing, I could hear the actual concern behind it. "It simply has been a long time since I have met someone like you, someone who made me feel safe and protected, that it felt like such a shame that I never got to tell you how I feel"

"How you feel?"

She rolled her eyes, smiling cheekily at me again. She placed her chin in her hands again, looking with a distracted yet dreamy look in her eyes.

"I fancy you, PJ" Kyanna said softly. "I have since you helped me fall asleep in the van, and I don't want to take the chance again that I might lose you"

I raised my head fully out of my hands, looking at the way she seemed to avoid my eyes. She was afraid of what I was going to say, but her fear of never seeing me again outweighed that. Just barely.

"Kyanna..."

"I'd love nothing more than to hear you say that you are interested in me too" Kyanna said, sighing softly to herself. "But I know this must be confusing for you, suddenly hearing this out of the blue from me"

I didn't say anything, feeling more comfortable with just hearing her talk instead of me. Then again, she might have felt just as uncomfortable with talking just as I did. Some people hate silence after all.

"Not to mention I could see how you felt for Ally, which made me think I had no chance with you" She sighed, fumbling around with another lolly before chucking it haphazardly into her mouth. Wow, she goes through those things fast. "I don't mind if you don't feel the same way, because just getting the chance to tell you and thank you for everything is enough to make me happy"

"Well, something tells me you'll be even happier out of this cell" I said determined, standing up and leaping up to kick the light in a smooth motion. Just like she had said, the cells all around us suddenly stopped working as the system tried to grab power to that one light. It all felt worth it, when I saw the proud smile on her face. "Ma'am, I do believe we have a guard incoming"

"That we do" She said, peering around her cell at the guard, who suddenly bolted up from his seat.

"Hey! What the hell is happening?!"

"Don't worry Kyanna" I said, flashing her the cheesiest smile I could manage in the situation. "I'll protect you"

"My hero~"

(Okay, I'm curious... What is your guys favourite couple? (Or potential couple, with how vague some of them seem to be) and who is your favourite if you had to pick between Kyanna and PJ? Thanks everyone :D)


	52. (52) Ignorance

Jack's P.O.V.: (But who's the ignorant one? Jack? Jade? Eh, I'll leave it up to you guys) (A quick trigger warning, some heavy discussions are brought up in this chapter)

"GET OFF ME!" Jade suddenly shouted out, which made me raise my head to see what was going on. From what I could see from my jail cell, Jade was being led to one of the millions of grey metal boxes on this floor. "GET OFF OR I'LL GOUGE YOUR EYES OUT!"

"I'm not on you" The guard said, and I could tell by his head mannerisms that he was trying to roll his eyes at her. It didn't matter that he had a helmet on, it still seemed to be obvious to me. "But whatever floats your goat"

He shoved her into the cell across from me, Jade still flailing her limbs around violently to try and get a kick or punch in on the guy. He then flicked some switch on a panel nearby, making the jail cell buzz loudly and activate a similar electric wall that mine had.

"Alright, you two behave now" The guard said, his soft voice taking me a little bit by surprise. Most people who were trying to guard prisoners were not nice people, usually violent personalities who loved to order people around and have them obey. Then again, when I was guarding Mark when he was a prisoner long ago... I'm sure he probably felt the same way at the time. God, not these memories again. "I'm sure Handsome Jack doesn't want to hurt you guys, so please don't make him reconsider"

"GO SUCK A DUCK!" Jade cried out angrily, her eyes beginning to water in frustration. She suddenly jumped up from her crumpled up position on the floor, trying to kick through the electric wall. Ouch! Bad idea, as she quickly found out from being shocked all down her leg. She fell to the floor in pain, holding her right leg like someone had set it on fire. I guess this didn't help her frustrated tears. "OWW! What in the ever loving spaghetti monster is up with that?!"

"Oh, that's an electric wall" The guard explained calmly, as though she didn't just try to nail him in the head with a kick. "It doesn't damage goods and materials, but when it detects a living being trying to touch it-...Well, you get the drift already"

"LET US OUT!"

"Alright, the young lady seems to have a bit of a anger problem right now" The guard said, sounding a little exasperated with her constant yelling. "I'll just leave you two to talk, maybe calm down a little, you know? I'll bring some food over in a bit when you're both calm"

"I'm perfectly calm" I told him as a matter of fact leaning against the wall of my cell while talking to him. If he was anything like I was as a guard, then he should take pity on the both of us if we don't treat him like shit.

"Yeah, I can see that" He said, but I didn't really detect malice in his voice as he said so. "But I don't think it's very fair to bring you food and not her"

"MAY THE SPAGHETTI MONSTER STRIKE YOU DOWN!"

"Aaannd that's why I need her to calm down first" The guard sighed, shaking his head from side to side. "I'll be not too far away if something drastic happens, so just call out if you need me"

And with that, our sort of polite guard turned on his heels and left me with the hysterical girl across from me. Jade let out a bunch of long stringed curses, all of them finding some inventive way of not actually swearing. I would have laughed, if it wasn't for the fact that she actually seemed on the verge of tears.

I turned my attention back over to the floor, which I was checking for imperfections or loose panels. If I could pry something off in this old cell, then maybe I could mess with the wiring. After all, what was the worst that could happen? It's not like I would be able to flip something that made the entire cell light up with electricity or something.

...

Actually, scratch that. I probably could make things a lot worse.

I grumbled a little to myself, not really liking that thought in my mind. It probably also didn't help that I couldn't seem to find anything at all wrong with my cell, all the walls and panels securely fixed with tight screws that were impossible to pull out.

" 'ey Jade, do ya see anything wrong with yer cell? Like, a loose panel or something?" I asked her, giving my cell another quick once over. When I didn't hear her respond, I turned my head to see what was wrong. She was sitting on the floor of her cell, pressed into the corner while crying what I assumed to be tears of frustration into her arm. "Are ye alright?..."

She didn't talk to me, instead she started to sob a little louder. She obviously wasn't in the best of places right now. I laid on the floor of my cell, trying to move as close to my cell door to talk to her softly. Something told me she didn't need my usually loud voice right now.

"I'm 'ere Jade, yer not alone" I tried to soothe her, seeing her raise her eyes from her arm to look at me bitterly. I wanted to ask why on earth she was staring at me like I was the devil himself, but I decided that maybe now wasn't the time. "They didn't 'urt ya, did they?"

She didn't respond, just continuing to frown at me. I guess my words didn't really help?

No, it was something else. I had done something to make her mad at me, and this was just making it worse in her eyes.

"I don't talk to monsters" She angrily mumbled to herself, but I managed to catch it all.

"A monster?! Wha-Where did ya get that sort of impression from?!" I asked, completely taken aback from the comment she made about me. "When on Pandora did I ever-

"You told me, back in the truck before it crashed" She hissed angrily, her tears still occasionally escaping from her eyes. "That you used to be a bandit"

"Yeah? So? There was a reason I put the words "used to be" " I sigh angrily, wondering why the hell she was getting caught up on this. "Do I regret being one? 'ell the fuck yes! Do I feel I need to feel bad because ye seem to dislike me? Fuck no!"

"You're a monster! Anyone who even considers to become a bandit will always be a monster!"

"Oh, so yer one of those people who don't give second chances to someone who made a mistake?! If someone accidentally shot someone, you'd probably be the first to stand up and call them a witch that needs to burn in 'ell!"

"There's a difference between someone who accidentally shot someone and someone who willingly joins a band of murderous people because it suits them!"

"So, a child that gets raised from birth to know nothing but that life, are you saying that they deserve to die fer that?!"

"They do if they murder my family and all my friends!"

"I DIDN'T FUCKING MURDER YER FAMILY!"

"I DIDN'T SAY YOU DID!"

* * *

After what felt like hours of shouting back and forth between each other (And the guard just tutting in disapproval not far away from us), our voices finally calmed down into angry mumbling. My voice felt hoarse, the sudden strain from yelling back and forth had assaulted my cords. I couldn't even imagine how much her own voice was in pain, as I was a lot more used to yelling out my emotions.

She had gone back into her own corner, her face dug into her arms in frustration.

All the times I had gotten into arguments with people in the past, my anger would usually dissipate soon after I had tired myself out. I was convinced that I wasn't going to let that happen to me this time, that I would actually stick to my morals and not let her tears sway me.

And yet... when I looked at her now, I couldn't find the same angry girl who had been arguing with me. All I could see now, was a scared and afraid girl.

She didn't know any of us that well, staying with us simply because she wanted to survive. And despite not knowing us that well, she had treated me with kindness and a warm smile over the past few days.

And her reasoning for disliking me... If my family had all been killed by bandits, would I automatically judge them the same way she did?

...

I probably would.

"Look... I'm sorry fer saying that yer a witch for thinking that way..." I said softly to myself. I could see that she was still ignoring me, her head not even slightly moving at my words. Eh, I guess I would too. "And... I'm really sorry about yer family, you know? I left behind my family, but I can't imagine what that must be like.."

She still didn't respond to my words, so I decided not to push it. I stood up, feeling the way my shoes thudded loudly against the metal floor.

"I guess I am used to 'iding who I used to be" I mumbled, unsure if I was still talking to her or myself at this point. Geez, it sounded like I was coming up with some kind of excuse for my arguing from earlier. I don't blame her for ignoring me. "I 'ated every single thing I did fer that sorry lot, and I thought that it would be easier to just 'ide it"

A thud here and there didn't do anything for me, all the floor sounding the same. I tried to reach my pale arms up the blinding light in the cell, but that seemed too firmly attached for me to remove.

"...What made you stop?.."

The voice was very quiet, so little and minute in her cell. Hell, I would have missed it if it wasn't for the fact that I wasn't banging on some particular part of my cell at the time.

When I twisted my head to look at her, she hadn't really moved all that much. But, she had poked her eyes above her own arm, enough to see me clearly.

"Mark" I said, remembering the day clearly. "Mark made me stop"

She didn't ask further questions, her bright green eyes still boring through me. I felt like I was on trial, having to explain my crime to a entire audience of people I had wronged in all of my life.

This wasn't the case of course, but it certainly felt that way.

The only indicator that I got from her to keep going, was the slight adjustment of her head. Her head rose a little more from behind her arm, now the top of her delicate nose brushing her arm hairs.

That was enough for me to explain more, to let go of my inner turmoil.

"Well, 'e didn't personally make me stop" I said, moving to the wall to get more comfortable leaning against it. "But 'e 'ad been captured by my group, along with two other guys"

Her head moved once again, her nose now completely uncovered by her arm. Despite the fact she was a distance away from me, it still felt like she was right next to me. And I don't know if her being beside me was what I feared, or wanted to have.

"Now, you stick together with yer family and friends with a lot of stuff, ya would think" I chuckled sarcastically, not really agreeing much with those words now. The slight widening of her eyes seemed to agree. "But the things they did to Mark... It... It was just complete and utter torture to 'im"

"...What did they do?.." Jade asked, her voice sounding almost a little apprehensive with the question she posed to me. She had probably heard plenty of how easily bandits could kill someone without caring, but sometimes the true horrors would happen to the ones that managed to survive. The ones who survived often wished they had been killed.

"Do ye want the blunt version? Or the soft one?" I sighed angrily, wondering just how into it I had to go. I wanted nothing more than to spare her from the ugly truth, but she probably was the kind of girl that wanted the truth, no matter how hard it was to tell.

"The blunt one" She said firmly, finally bringing her head out fully. I should have known.

"They raped 'im, day in and out" I let out, seeing her eyes widen. "It wasn't even the boss's way of punishing 'im for something 'e did wrong! 'e just took pleasure in that control over 'im, degrading 'im as though 'e was a piece of trash"

It felt horrible to recount it, to remember those vivid memories. Like that day I had accidentally stumbled onto my boss... doing those things to him.

I wanted to throw the memory from my mind, like it was some poison that would never leave. The way my boss had just so casually talked to me, as though it was completely mundane that he was making him cry and scream in pain in front of me.

But what had broken me the most, was the way Mark looked at me. Red puffy eyes, tear lines obviously dried over and over again lining his face. And that plea, oh god. That cry for help as he held his hand out to me.

"Please! Please, help me..."

I shuddered on the spot, for a moment forgetting where I was. It was like I was back there, seeing those things in front of my eyes.

"What happened to his two friends?" Jade's voice suddenly popped up out of the blue, violently tearing me out of the horrid memory. Despite her voice essentially shocking my brain, I really appreciated being taken away from that memory.

"Bob was the first one, 'e got shot as some sort of stupid example of what would 'appen if the other two didn't listen" I muttered quickly, trying to clear my suddenly tight throat. "And Wade, well... 'e tried to prevent what 'appened to Mark..."

"He got shot?"

"No, no... 'e got beaten to death in front of Mark..." I whispered. "At least, that's what Mark told me what 'appened to 'im"

I let things fall silent, not really wanting to talk more about it. The more I talked, the more I was able to recount things as clearly as when they happened.

And yet, just as soon as I wished for silence, my mind started to remember things so clearly. I wanted to talk to get my mind away, to bury those things like I had done in the past.

Long story short, I wanted to talk... just not about this.

"So, that's the blunt version of why I left my bandit group, 'elping Mark escape along with me" I grumbled, deciding to find something to occupy my mind. Talking and banging against the cell walls sounded like a really good idea right about now. "None of it is me trying to get ye to trust me more than ye want to, just me wanting to make a point that not everyone who 'as a checkered past is the same"

She didn't respond to my final statement, which I was not really happy with. If she didn't continue the conversation, then that meant I would have to find the stupidest reasons to keep talking after we were long done with a discussion. Something told me that talking about the weather wasn't really going to work right now, as we would need an actual planet for that to work.

"What are you looking for?" She asked me, seeing me angrily kick the sides of my cell. Finally! It wasn't the most interesting thing we had ever talked about, but it would do.

"Some kind of faulty panel, something that we might be able to mess with" I stated, cursing slightly at the pain in my feet. I was not the best person for extra strength kicking after all, that was more PJ or Connor's thing. "Even if it just gets you out, it'll be worth losing the feeling in me legs"

"Don't be ridiculous" She said, moving herself out of her corner and finally beginning to search around in her cell. "If I manage to get out of my cell, you can bet I'm going to help you out of yours"

"I thought I was a monster?" I asked, finally giving up with kicking the sides of my cell. If we were going to get out, it wasn't through mine.

"...You're not as much of a monster..." She quietly mumbled to herself, obviously trying to keep it to herself. Too bad for her I have really good ears. "I don't know, I might change my mind later down the road"

"As long as I get to protect me friends along the way, then I'll gladly take that" I said, sighing a little in both relief and frustration.

"Ah! I found something!" She said victoriously in one of the corners in her cell. Surprisingly, it was the one she had been huddled in for the last long while.

" 'ey! Be careful! Ya never know what-

Just as quickly as I had begun to say that, the wall of electricity suddenly flickered and went out with a giant whirring noise. Well, I guess it wasn't as dangerous to take down these walls as I thought they might be earlier.

I was about to whoop and cheer for joy (No, not that Joy), when she hurriedly stuck her finger in front of her mouth to hush me, her eyes looking down the way to see if the guard noticed anything. I figured that they hadn't, because Jade hurried herself over to my cell and flicked something on the panel attached to mine.

Just like hers, it whirred loudly before flickering out. I was about to run forward and hug her, when I remembered our sort of awkward alliance.

"So..." I said a little awkwardly, fiddling with my fingers for a bit before holding a hand out to her. "Truce?"

"Truce" She said, taking my hand and shaking it as firmly as she could. Which wasn't too much mind you, as she was that muscly and she was an Omega. But none of that mattered right now, as the handshake was enough for me.

"Well then" I said, looking around the corner of my cell while letting go of her hand. "Feel like watching my back fer a little while longer?"

"You betcha"


	53. (53) Stronger

Chris's P.O.V.:

"Sooo..." I begin, dragging out my words to try and make Joy laugh. "How you doin?"

"I'm all good, considering the fact I am sitting in a jail cell" She responded smoothly to my question, giggling harmoniously at my silly attitude. "I am a little bored however"

"Well, I would offer to entertain you like the three stooges would" I joked, shrugging my shoulders. "But I think I would knock myself out after the second time of walking into the electric wall"

"Yeah, maybe avoid doing that"

"Aww~" I moaned while pouting. She just laughed at that, which egged me on to keep going. "But that's my favourite thing~"

"Too bad Chris" She teased, winking at me. "Maybe next time"

My happy go lucky attitude fell over then, my teasing smile slipping away. I know I should probably keep trying to make her laugh, to ease the tension, but I couldn't help how my brain worked sometimes.

I had the distinct feeling there might not be a next time.

"So.. what do we talk about now?" She asked me, looking around her jail cell in boredom. "I don't really like the idea of having too much silence"

"You don't like silence?"

"No, I really don't.." She said softly, sighing to herself. "I have been on my own for so long on Pandora, that I forgot how nice it was to have someone to talk with"

I patted my legs, trying to think up of something to talk about. I really wanted to find something to talk about before she started talking about the obvious one from a couple of hours ago. If I could just-

"How are you dealing with Tyler's death?"

Goddamit. See, this was what I was trying to avoid.

"I don't want to talk about that one" I said firmly, some old memories in my head being dredged up by his death. I wanted to bury them as far away as I could. Cowardly, I know, but it was the only way I coped.

"You have to talk about it someday" Joy told me, which I tried my best to take as honest advice without getting upset at her. It was really difficult. "You can't let it fester inside you, otherwise it will always be a huge hurdle to handle"

"I get that, but I really don't want to talk about it now" I said a bit more angry than I had hoped I sounded. "Even if we do make it out of this, which is pretty fucking unlikely, I don't think a space station is the best time for therapy"

"Fair enough" She reluctantly allowed the topic to drop, shrugging her shoulders. "But promise me we will talk about it when we get off this station"

"Yeah, sure, I promise" I promise her hastily, knowing the chances against us. It wasn't like we were going to make it out anyway.

She hummed to herself, her eyes showing that she was lost in thought. God, I hoped she wasn't going to bring up another sore topic. Maybe I should-

"So, how are things between you and Ally?"

UUUGGHHH.

"Well, last I checked" I started sarcastically, crossing my arms over my chest. "She was kidnapped by some weird obsessed boss of hers, I'm locked in a jail cell... So I guess it's going fine"

"I detect some sarcasm" Joy cheekily said, completely missing my grumpy attitude.

"Gee, I wonder" I said, rolling my eyes at her. She just laughed. "How did you even know?"

"A guy doesn't get picked up bridal style by a girl every day" She said, reminding me of the fact I had spilled that in the truck earlier. "Not to mention, you really looked like you wanted to kill her boss"

"I don't need to be in love with her to do either of those things" I argued my point, which made her nod her head in partial agreement.

"True, very true" She said, tapping the side of her head to show she was thinking leagues ahead of me. "But your question of 'How did you know?', that was the thing that gave it away"

Fuck.

"Ugh... why do you even want to know about this?" I moaned, rolling over onto my back in mock anguish.

"I like to know my targets before I swoop in for the kill"

"Hilarious"

"I know" She teased, winking at me cheekily. "But why do you seem to be so down in the dumps? Surely things are going well for you?"

"I literally have had the least interaction with her, romantically speaking"

"Oh? Tell me more" She says, rolling herself over to listen to me with a silly look on her face.

"Well... I kissed her on the cheek one time"

"Ooh, spicy! And kinda sweet nowadays" She said, chuckling at the thought. "What else?"

"Nothing, that's it"

"That's it?"

"Yup"

"..."

"..."

"Oh"

"Yeah"

She dropped the subject again, but this time it was due to the fact we both knew it was going nowhere. At least I didn't have to beg her to stop like last time.

"Do you think you actually like her?"

Aaaannnd she's brought it up again.

"Why are you asking so much about me?!" I asked her, exasperated in every sense of the word. "Why do you want to know if I am emotionally alright about my dead friend, when it's obvious that I'm not?! And why do you ask me how my relationship with Ally is, when it's obvious that I am never going to be the one for her?!"

She looked at me with a sad look on her face, allowing me to rant without sounding prissy or responding snarkily like she had done when we had first met. I let my arms fall down by my side, feeling very emotionally drained. God, I really wanted everything horrible from today to leave my brain. Including the fact I was probably going to die.

Despite those words I had said to her... my sister... death is still a scary thing.

...

I don't want to die...

"What happened with Ally?" Joy asked me, suddenly bringing me out of my internal crisis. "Did you not tell her that you liked her?"

"...No, I didn't.." I said softly to myself, absentmindedly confiding in her. "I thought she needed a friend, you know? Someone who took their time to get to know her before trying to dive head first into a relationship, unlike my friends"

"They like her too?"

"Not all of them" I said, beginning to count off on my fingers. "Troye, Connor and...Tyler... all are gay, so they obviously weren't, but the others were"

She didn't pose a probing question this time, instead just shuffling her way closer to me. I wasn't sure if it was the silence that made me want to keep talking, or the fact I was certain I might never get to say this ever again.

"I think the only reason they all suddenly seemed to romantically like her, was because we hadn't seen a friendly female in years" I grumbled, the idea of all five of my friends somehow all liking her, it irritated me very much. "I can't see how else she managed to get everyone's attention"

"Do you think they would have fallen in love with her, had there been more girls?"

"Think?! HA! I am damn certain of it" I laughed sarcastically and bitterly. "Mark? Only liked her because he is hoping to get rid of his fear of Alpha, and there is nothing he can do to get rid of that idea in my mind! Jack? Probably wanted to finally have someone who told him that he isn't a monster, and that's probably also why he so willingly ignored her checkered past"

"What about those friends you seem very close with? PJ, Phil and Dan?"

"Phil was hormones, plain and simple" I laughed bitterly again. "I could tell because anything that would happen between them, he didn't gain a single trace of her scent"

"..."

"PJ, I don't know very much why he suddenly got interested in her" I admitted honestly, shrugging my shoulders. "I don't know if it was as simple as being attracted to her, or because he actually fell for her"

"And what about Dan? Last I saw, he doesn't trust anyone"

"See, that's the funny thing" I told her, pulling a weird face without meaning to. Thank god she didn't laugh at my weird face, otherwise I probably would have shut down right there. "If there was one person I could guarantee who wouldn't fall in love with her, then he would have been it"

"He was less likely to love her than the gay guys?"

"Well, no" I admitted reluctantly. Being attracted to women automatically put him a whole lot higher than them. "But out of the ones who are interested in women, Dan would be the least likely"

"The way he hugged her after that radio call says something else"

"...Yeah..." I said softly, remembering that picture exactly in my mind.

I didn't believe Phil, when he had told me that Dan had admitted to loving her when they came to rescue us in Hollow point. I also didn't believe him when he said that they kissed, I just couldn't understand it. When they had held each other there, just this morning, it seemed to send me for a complete loop. The way he so lovingly held her, the way she clung onto him, like he was her lifeline.

...

"I think that was the moment I realised, that I had no chance" I said, a little bit louder than I had intended. "By some weird cruel twist of fate, my friend who I had sworn could never love a woman in his life, and the girl whom I could swear didn't like jerks with a heart of gold... they had fallen in love with each other"

I finally raised my head from my slump, looking over her with clear, if annoyed eyes. I wasn't annoyed at her, she could tell. I was just mad at life right now, which seemed to enjoy beating me up when it got it's chance.

"So yeah, that's why I think my love life is a dumpster fire" I said, sighing loudly. "Anything else humorous you might like to learn about Chris, the living failure?"

"No, I think I have asked enough of you for one day" She admitted honestly, beginning to stand up in her cell. To my surprise, I noticed that the guards had not stuck a shock collar onto her neck. Weird, did they not figure out she was an Alpa? "But I'm glad you felt comfortable talking to me about this"

"I would have talked about this with anyone, it wasn't a big factor that you were here" I sighed, my head slumping down. She didn't argue with me, so she was either getting used to the way I talked, or she couldn't care less. Either way, the lack of arguing wasn't that bad.

"I mean, it could have been worse" She admitted, starting to gently knock against the walls of her cell. What was she doing? "You could have just pulled the silent treatment with me the entire time, and refused to even look at me"

"I guess... what are you even doing there?"

She kept banging against the walls in her cell, listening for something in particular. I guess her banging was loud enough that she hadn't heard me.

"Baby look what you've done to me~" She sang to herself, her voice coming through loud and clear even when she knocked against the wall. "Baby you've got me tied down~"

I was so caught up on her singing, that I didn't even really register that she was still searching for something. From the sound of heavy footsteps coming our way, it sounded like the guard had heard her as well.

"Baby~ I'll never leave you, if you keep holding me this way~"

Once the guard got close enough, everything seemed to click together in her eyes. She punched harshly through a particular segment of wall, puncturing the wall violently. It cracked and groaned loudly, the sharp scraping noises sounding like nails on a chalk board. Except twice as bad.

The guard seemed to be thinking along the same lines as me, trying to cover his ears. He also seemed to have forgotten the fact that he was wearing a helmet, so sticking his hands there didn't do anything.

When Joy finally tugged her arm out of the wall, the meta violently tore and split in various places. Along with the carnage she had caused to the metal, she was holding a large amount of wires in her usually delicate hands. When she tugged on them harshly enough, they split unevenly apart from each other, and they sparked violently with sparks before fizzing out. The wall let out a large whirring noise, which then died down into silence, the electric wall holding her in place dying down at the same time.

Let me tell you, I did not want to be the guard at that time.

"P-Put your-

It didn't even take her that long to take him out, grabbing his helmet and smashing it into the closest wall to her. I didn't even expect her to put that much force behind it, but I could see the cracks in his yellow helmet.

That stuff if supposed to be the newest tech! With a lot of new ideas about metal layering, and strong materials.

And yet, the helmet was falling apart the longer I looked at it.

"I guess it was kind of unfair for you to be the only one that talked right now, so I'll make you a deal" Joy said, moving herself to my own cell and fiddling with something that I couldn't really see. I figured it had to be the controls to my own cell, due to the fact my own electric wall fell down. "Once we're safe, I'll tell you everything about that song I just sang, as my way of thanking you for talking about your hardships"

She extended her hand out to me, smiling softly at my shocked face, mouth agape at every move she made. Part of me could have been sarcastic or joking here, probably at the thought of fulfilling that stupid promise earlier. To talk about my feelings. But hell, my other thought from earlier won out in the end.

I really didn't want to die...

"Alright, let's get out of here"


	54. (54) I need a hero

Phil's P.O.V.:

"Get in there you tall and lanky bastard!"

I stumbled into the jail cell, not really expecting the sudden push from the guard. I managed to stick my hands out to catch myself before I fell, at least making sure that I didn't break my face in the process. I mean, it's something?

Before my guard could activate the cell I was in, his friend appeared beside him and asked him a question.

"Hey, what happened to the cell across his?" Another guard asked the one who had chucked me in my cell, holding the squirming girl known as Lissa over his shoulder. "The panel looks busted!"

"Eh, just chuck the girl in the same cell as the guy"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it should be fine" The guard convinced his friend, the both of them walking back over to my cell to turn off the wall for a moment. "From what I can smell, the guy is an Omega, so there's no way the both of them could cause any mischief"

"There's a bunch of stuff that an Omega in his heat can do with a girl"

"Eh, we were just told to keep them alive" The guard said, his big yellow suit rising and falling in a way that I could only describe as someone shrugging their shoulders. "We didn't have the orders that they weren't allowed to have sex"

Gross.

"But didn't the boss also say that they had to be split up?"

"Look, do you really want to wait here for five hours waiting for the repair man?!"

"...Nah, you're right"

And with that final word, he picked Lissa up from his shoulder and chucked the petite girl into the cell. And I literally mean chucked! Her feet didn't touch the floor at all in that instance!

Despite the fact I probably wasn't the best person at catching, I didn't really like the idea of just leaving her to her own devices at that point.

She squealed a little as I caught her, an arm slapping me in the face as I tried to hook my arms underneath her armpits. Or wait, was that a leg sticking up at one angle?

The momentum behind her tumble through the air sent me reeling once again, and I managed to avoid falling into a heap by landing on my butt instead. Nailed it.

"See what I mean? He couldn't even catch a skinny girl without failing miserably! Honestly, what are you worried about?"

I looked down at the way I had caught Lissa, and I had to reluctantly agree that I probably could have caught her better. Instead of hooking my arms underneath her armpits like I had planned, I had managed to get one leg and one arm. And so, she sat there in my lap, one leg awkwardly raised in the air while the rest of her sat there a little confused on what just happened.

"Well, this is comfy" Lissa said sarcastically, trying to push down her black shorts with her available arm. "I'm not sure about you, but I don't think 'eep' translates to 'give me a leg up' "

"Even during stressful moments, you can still make a pun?" I chuckled, laughing despite the situation. Sure, this was a stressful moment, but puns could make me laugh nine out of ten times.

"It's both a blessing and a curse" She said, a semi-honest grin on her face. "Now, would you mind giving me back my left leg? I don't really feel like sitting spread eagle towards those guards"

We both raised our heads to look at the guards, only to notice that they had left a little while ago.

"Oh... well I don't really like the idea of being spread eagle in front of a electric wall either"

"You aren't sexually attracted to electricity?"

"Nah, I prefer things to be on fire"

"Smoking hot"

She laughed, enjoying the trivial jokes tossed between us both. I let go of her appendages, and she immediately jumped to her feet.

"So, what now?" She asked, cautiously holding her fingers near the electric wall, feeling the electricity crackle under her fingers. "Do something to annoy the guards before they separate us?"

I didn't answer her straight away, looking at the busted panel on the wall across from our cell. From the looks of it, someone had torn off some sort of lever, the empty slot looking very devoid of any wires or metal construct. It looked like the sort of level that manually allowed or blocked the connection to the power...

"Alright, guess I'm not getting an answer to my first question" She sighed, holding her hands on her hips. "You guys seem to have the worst luck with getting kidnapped, you know that?"

"Seeing as we are part of the ten percent of people who aren't currently bandits on Pandora, that isn't that difficult" I said, shrugging my shoulders like it was common place. I wasn't comfortable at all with the circumstances, but I had to make light of the situation. I couldn't afford for her to get completely disillusioned. "We have done really well with escaping each time"

"Yeah... I don't think I'll be able to pull off the same magic trick as I did last time"

"Heh, the psychotic biotic"

"Bionic Phil, he said bionic"

"Close enough"

She snorted, rolling her eyes at my silly attempt of humor. I was failing at coming up with any puns, so I guess silly jokes would have to do in the place for that.

"You know, I usually would be really mad at someone for trying to make me laugh when I'm nervous" Lissa admitted to me, looking down at the ground with a forlorn look. It looked like she was remembering someone... "But for some reason, I don't feel the same way when you're doing it"

"It must be my rugged good looks" I joked, to which she raised an eyebrow with a slightly confused smirk.

"I didn't peg you for the kind to try and flaunt their good looks" She said, her face looking halfway stuck between amused and utterly confused. It looked a little weird.

"Well, to be honest, I'm not" I admitted to her, laughing a little awkwardly as I nervously played with my hair. "It's usually Chris who does that and it usually works, so I figured why not, but now I'm really regretting the attempt because I look really stupid and now I'm rambling because I am nervous and- Wait, did you say 'try to flaunt their good looks'?"

She once again was stuck between two emotions, being torn between laughing at my rambling mess and trying to avoid looking at my eyes from my comment.

"Yes, I did" She said, shrugging her shoulders. Despite the nonchalant way she shrugged her shoulders, she still wasn't looking at me. Her cheeks looked like they were going red. "What of it?"

Try and flaunt their good looks...

She thought I looked good.

For some reason, my mind jumped to a question Dan had asked me earlier today. " _Do you like Lissa?"_

Did I? I didn't really have much time to think it over today, as a crash isn't really the best time to think over whether or not you liked some girl in your group after all.

I did enjoy her company a lot, and I guess that I would probably pick her out of all the girls in our group if I had to. My eyes drifted to look at her, the silence I had left her with was not the best thing for someone to do.

The soft smile, the way it seemed to be on her lips even without her willing it to. The way her eyes seemed to shine with nervous yet excited emotions. A stray lock of hair got loose from behind her ear, falling in between her eyes and I really felt the urge to push it out of the way. Was this just my heat speaking, or did she look really cute?

I willed myself to move forward, moving my arms to hug her gently. This might have sounded good to you (Phil, don't break the fourth wall) but I could tell immediately that I failed pretty badly.

For starters, she was that much smaller than me that I had to hunch over like some gigantic noodle beast. My arms couldn't reach down far enough to be around her back, so I was just kind of awkwardly holding her shoulders instead. And to top it all off, I had hugged her so suddenly that she didn't have time to wrap her arms around me, instead being stuck against my chest. God, I suck at this.

"I have to admit" Lissa said awkwardly, her face a little muffled from being embedded into my shoulder. "This has got to be the most awkward hug I have ever received"

"Yeah... this hug has to be the most awkward I have ever done.." I admitted to her, releasing her from my hold.

"Smooth bro, smooth"

Quick! Think of something better to do! Um, what did I do romantically with Ally?...

I grinded on her in a bathtub.

...

Yeah, no. I'm not doing that again. Uh... what would my friends do?

Chris would probably smoothly compliment them, all the while gently holding their hand. My use of words was nowhere near as smooth as his, so that would go about as well as chucking a snowball into a volcano.

PJ would likely bring up a good memory that he and that special person shared, reminiscing in special moments. Me and Lissa bonded over puns, I told her off one time for kicking herself when she was down and other fun times. Let's not go with that.

Troye would likely sing a love song, usually being good enough to even make up one on the spot. My singing was like a dying pelican...

Tyler would... he would probably have just called them adorable, and pointed out all the good things about them in abundance. Once again, I am not a master wordsmith.

Connor would probably admit that he liked them, giggling all the while and generally looking very sheepish as he did so. I guess I could do that one, but I just didn't have the same charm as Connor to pull that off. Not to mention after my failed hug, it would look really lame.

Mark was a hugging kind of person, who enjoyed holding people close to him. He probably would whisper nice things about them into their ear, all the while swaying gently with them in his arms. And seeing as I just failed a hug myself, I wasn't going to try that.

Jack? He probably would turn his voice down several notches, telling them in a deep sublime voice that he loved them, usually after a kiss. My voice couldn't reach that tone naturally, and I would probably make the most awkward proclamation of love.

I guess that just left Dan, who I had seen make a number of really gentle expressions of love towards Ally. So, what did he do?

He kissed her, plain and simple.

A kiss, huh...

I let Lissa back up a little from me, allowing herself to have some space instead of being pressed into me all the time. When she was far enough away to have her space, I moved my hands to gently cup her cheeks. As my fingers got nestled in her black hair, one of her eyebrows raised in question.

"I like you Lissa"

Despite the fact I shouldn't have really spoken, the words came out of my lips without even realising it. Her eyes widened in mild shock, before returning to the expression from earlier. Her eyes were still full of a nervous energy, but if you dug deep enough, you could see the unbridled happy emotions hidden behind it.

"Well, is the man with the rugged good looks going to kiss me some time today?" She asked me softly, some vague hints of cheekiness shining through. She moved her hands to cradle my own, her petite fingers barely covering my own.

I finally took the plunge, tilting my head enough that our noses wouldn't crash together. My lips opened enough to envelop her own, my lip quivering slightly as I finally connected our lips together.

Her lips... were incredibly soft. It was like kissing a pudding, but without the elasticity behind most puddings. Despite always being told by people that lips never tasted like something, she seemed to have a strong hit of a spice, like all spice. Or wait, was that me?

...

That was me. I could smell all spice very strongly coming from my body, along with a strong hit of orange hidden underneath. Jesus, did I always smell so strong?! No wonder people complained about me hanging around the hallway back at Hollow point when I was in my heat.

When I pulled away, I could hear a light lip smacking noise as our lips disconnected. Her face was very flushed, her usual pale white cheeks now a gentle red.

"Hmm, not bad" She joked, once she managed to get her breath back. "I rate that kiss a seven out of ten"

"Hey, come on!" I argued, but I couldn't stop the smile on my face. "That was at least an eight!"

"The quivering lip kind of took me out of it, and the kiss didn't do anything exciting" She teased me, flashing me her casual smirk as usual. "But I could feel the emotions behind it, which made up for everything else"

"And yet I still got a seven" I sighed, letting go of her face. My hands feel very empty now, as though I should be doing something with them. "And why do I smell like this?"

"Simple, you smell like me" She said, seeing me turn my shocked eyes her way. "Beta and Omega connect, then the Beta is the one who passes their scent on to the Omega"

"Oh..." I said, lifting my arm to my nose and taking a gentle smell. The all spice was really over powering, and it smelled divine to me. The orange smelled very sweet in the background, which seemed to lull you into sleep. "God, you smell amazing"

"Phil, you're smelling yourself"

"I know, but isn't this what you smell like?"

"Yeah, but it probably smells stronger on you than it does for me" She admitted, laughing to herself. "So, what do we do now? Irritate the guards by making awkward sexual noises?"

"I've got a better idea" I said, peering around the corner of our cell. If I leaned against the wall just right, I could spy a small little grey lever on the panel to our cell, most likely the one that controlled the electric wall to our cell. Jackpot.

It only took a couple of seconds to pass by before I felt that familiar pulsing beat through my veins. It was like suddenly getting a raised intense heartbeat, each rhythmic thud being stronger and more concentrated. With each heavy thud, I could see a thin black mist start to escape from my body, coming out from every pore as though it was my own lifeblood. The same weird purple hue seemed to glow from my chest, catching the majority of Lissa's attention, her staring in shock at my strange look.

I focused my mind on the lever in my sights, flicking my hand up in the air quickly to make it move in the way I wanted it. Unlike all the other times in the past when I would have to make the motion several times, this time it clicked into place immediately. As the wall died down into a whirring emptiness, I turned my head with the cheesiest smile I could manage.

"Viola"


End file.
